Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!altair!jxf
From: jxf@altair.cis.ksu.edu (Jerry Frain)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: How wrong is MS-DOS? (or: OS generalizations)
Message-ID: <1991Jan13.202218.3093@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu>
Date: 13 Jan 91 20:22:18 GMT
References: <1991Jan13.070039.12473@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu> <11295@lanl.gov>
Sender: news@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu (The News Guru)
Organization: Kansas State University
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jlg@lanl.gov (Jim Giles) writes:
>From article <1991Jan13.070039.12473@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu>, by jxf@altair.cis.ksu.edu (Jerry Frain):

[ definitions of OS terms and previous discussion deleted for brevity ]

>This only goes to show that the people who _use_ the features and the
>people who train the implementors of the technology are using the terms
>differently.  I deal mostly with the former while you obviously study
>the later.  That kind of problem is pandemic in computing.

Truly.  The recognition of this fact was the purpose of my article.

>In any event, by _both_ of our definitions, the functionality offered
>by standard UNIX is not multitasking.

Again, this depends on your personal view "multitasking."

By the definition I presented, multitasking is typically considered to be
the feature of a language (Ada, Concurrent C, et. al.) which enables the
programmer to establish separate threads (tasks) of execution.

Taking this concept in the context of operating systems, it would follow
that a "multitasking operating system" is one which may establish separate
threads of execution, hence a multi-threaded OS.  A popular example would
be the MACH kernel.

However, I do not believe that I have seen the term "multitasking" used
this way.

In any event, If you accept this view of "multitasking operating systems,"
then multitasking/multi-threaded versions of Unix _have_ been developed.
If you choose not to accept this view, then I do not know how the term
"multitasking" may be applied as a characteristic of operating systems.

Regards,

  --Jerry

--
Jerry Frain -- Systems Programmer               Kansas State University
                                        Department of Computing & Info Sciences
Internet : jxf@cis.ksu.edu                         Manhattan, Kansas
UUCP     : ...!rutgers!ksuvax1!jxf