Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!rochester!udel!gatech!mcnc!decvax!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!nuchat!sugar!peter
From: peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: C critisisms
Summary: Tripos? One of the best?
Message-ID: <1378@sugar.UUCP>
Date: 8 Jan 88 00:03:41 GMT
References: <7597@sunybcs.UUCP> <1473@codas.att.com> <3686@aw.sei.cmu.edu>
Organization: Sugar Land UNIX - Houston, TX
Lines: 22

In article <3686@aw.sei.cmu.edu>, firth@sei.cmu.edu (Robert Firth) writes:
> (b) operating systems, including Tripos, one of the best (in my opinion)
>     distributed OS (sold commercially as 'Trout')

I'd have to disagree. Tripos is also sold as the DOS part of AmigaDOS. The
use of BCPL produces innumerable headaches for programs that want to use it:
BCPL pointers are indexes into a 32-bit-wide array based at 0. Thus to send
an address to BCPL you have to divide it by 4 (shift right 2 places) if you
are using ANY other languages. The BCPL orientation of Tripos makes the C
orientation of UNIX look like a mild bias. Tripos is, in design and
implementation, a very nice system (though the file system could do with
a more pragmatic approach to directories). If it was written in anything
but BCPL it'd be great.

Tripos is also available as the O/S on the Sinclair QL, for those who want
to wet their Tripos feet without laying out O($1000) for an Amy.

Of course that's not to say that you shouldn't run right out now and get
an Amiga... :->
-- 
-- Peter da Silva  `-_-'  ...!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter
-- Disclaimer: These U aren't mere opinions... these are *values*.