Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!ames!vsi1!zorch!amiga0!mykes From: mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: Amiga OS *IS* state of the art Message-ID: Date: 31 Mar 91 07:24:05 GMT References: <1003@cbmger.UUCP> <7827@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> <8806@gollum.twg.com> <17876@sdcc6.ucsd.edu> Organization: Amiga makes it possible Lines: 48 In article <17876@sdcc6.ucsd.edu> rblewitt@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (Richard Blewitt) writes: >In article <8806@gollum.twg.com> david@twg.com (David S. Herron) writes: >>In article <7827@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> barrett@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Dan Barrett) writes: >>>In article <1003@cbmger.UUCP> peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY) writes: >> >>> If you want to see a "state of the art" operating system, take a >>>look at current research at places like University of Illinois (CHOICES) and >>>AT&T (various successors to UNIX; I forget the names). > >The last I saw of CHOICES, about a year ago, it had finally reached >a point where if you did nothing, it would not crash, doing anything >would cause it to crash. Also, the point of CHOICES was to create a >clean object-orientated operating system, much of which, the Amiga >already has. Given that it works, I'd say the Amiga is more state >of the art, although I agree that it needs resource tracking and >memory protection. > >Rick Agreed. Most applications implement the resource tracking logic over and over and over again. A couple of points though... The aims of the ROM Kernel were to provide programmers with routines which we can wrap our own stuff around. Any higher level approach would paint us into a corner and force us to do things a specific way. Remember, the initial pitch to developers was anti-evangelism (i.e. the Mac way). Secondly, resource tracking would have to be done in such a way that doesn't preclude some of the power that the OS currently has. For example, one task can create a message port for another task and can then exit without the resource going away. The same is true for messages themselves. ARexx is built around this capability. One developer I've seen has implemented a loadable library that does his resource tracking for him. Instead of calling AllocMem, he calls the AllocMem in his library and when his task exits, the memory is deallocated automatically. He does the same thing for Windows, Menus, Gadgets, and the other various resource that you normally have to keep track of in software. In addition to the resource tracking facility, the library also reimplements many of the ROM Kernel routines (friendly with the OS) so they perform better. -- ******************************************************** * Appendix A of the Amiga Hardware Manual tells you * * everything you need to know to take full advantage * * of the power of the Amiga. And it is only 10 pages! * ********************************************************