Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!munnari.oz.au!metro!research.canon.oz.au!raphael From: raphael@research.canon.oz.au (Andrew Raphael) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: True Multitasking, True Object-oriented, True anything. Message-ID: <1991Jan24.024330.1232@research.canon.oz.au> Date: 24 Jan 91 02:43:30 GMT References: <6082@stpstn.UUCP> <1991Jan22.035748.275@d.cs.okstate.edu> <1991Jan22.082018.14641@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu> Organization: Canon Information Systems Research Australia Lines: 28 In article <1991Jan22.082018.14641@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu> jxf@orion.cis.ksu.edu (Jerry Frain) writes: >In article <1991Jan22.035748.275@d.cs.okstate.edu> minich@d.cs.okstate.edu (Robert Minich) writes: >>How about if we just use "preemptive multitasking" to >>describe itself and let "multitasking" refer to any number of schemes where >>two or more otherwise unrelated threads of execution are active at one >>time? We can use "multithreaded application" to describe a single >>program that has multiple threads of execution. >We already know that the Mac is time-sharing. To say that it is also >multitasking adds a new dimension which is not accurate, especially if >you believe the part about the origin of the term "multitasking" stems >from the Ada language. Indeed. It isn't the Mac which is multithread, it's the programming language environment. For example, I use a Macintosh Forth compiler (Mach 2) which is multithreaded, and works under Multifinder. Thus I write applications which are multithread, and run on a multiprogramming OS. >Thus, the Macintosh implements a cooperative _scheduler_. Unix, AmigaOS, >et. al. perform preemptive _scheduling_. The Forth I mention uses a co-operative scheduler for the multithreading. -- Andrew Raphael Golden lads and girls all must, as chimney sweepers, come to dust.