Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!super!udel!mmdf
From: iphwk%MTSUNIX1.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bill Kinnersley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: ARP commands--How do you make them so small?
Message-ID: <3806@louie.udel.EDU>
Date: 24 Aug 88 17:16:39 GMT
Sender: mmdf@udel.EDU
Lines: 96

[In "Re: ARP commands--How do you make them so small?", Andy Finkel said:]
>
> In article <3633@louie.udel.EDU> iphwk%MTSUNIX1.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bill
>  Kinnersley) writes:
> >        Instead of going the ARP route and writing everything in
> >assembler, an easier approach is to find a way to interface C to this
> >library.  An example of how to do this is shown below.
>
> >Bill Kinnersley
>
> I've thought long and hard for a suitable response.  On one hand,
> I applaud the intellectual search for knowledge.  On the other hand,
> I hope this doesn't show up in a commercial product.  (I hate
> to have my options limited.)
>
>
> Anyway, I think Roger Zelazny, in his excellent book _Lord of Light_
> tells it best...
>
> "It begins with a doorway.  There is a huge, burnished
>  metal door, erected by the First, that is heavy as sin,
>  three times the height of a man and half that distance
>  in width. It is a full cubit thick and bears a head-sized
>  ring of brass, a complicated pressure-plate lock and an
>  inscription that reads, roughly, "Go away. This is not a
>  place to be. If you do try to enter here, you will fail
>  and also be cursed. If somehow you suceed, then do not
>  complain that you entered unwarned, nor bother us
>  with your deathbed prayers."  Signed, "The Gods."
>
>  It is told that Pannalal the Sage, having sharpened
>  his mind with meditation and diverse asceticisms, had
>  divined the operation of the lock and entered Hellwell,
>  spending a day and a night beneath the mountain.  He
>  was thereafter known as Pannalal the Mad."
>
>
> I think that sums it up just about perfectly :-) (sorry Bill)
>
> Right now, the Universe of Programs that we break by playing
> with the (undocumented on purpose) BCPL global vector and
> associated libraries is small, and known.  We could handle the
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
But how do you *know* it is small and known?  When programs start
doing magic things, I start to wonder..

> screams of outrage if we changed things (I think).   If the Universe
> of Programs that count on this stuff gets large, it becomes
> harder.
> (Its our plan to provide C library interfaces to the useful routines at some
>  point in the future.)

Perhaps this could become part of ARP.

> Think of this as fair warning.  I like the spirit of experimentation...
> as long as the fruits of discovery don't automatically become something
> to be counted on.
>
> --
> andy finkel        {uunet|rutgers|amiga}!cbmvax!andy
> Commodore-Amiga, Inc.
>

Andy, we all know and appreciate how much you've helped already to make
AmigaDOS more accessible to C, especially with the AmigaDOS devices.
I had gotten the impression that this project was largely on the back
burner now...
that we had reached a peaceful accommodation with BCPL and that things
were likely to remain the way they are for some time to come.  Excuse
me if I was wrong.

At any rate, it's clear that your response can only be properly
answered by another quote from _Lord_Of_Light_  :-)


        Enlightened One, I have listened to your teachings, and I have
   listened well.  Much have I thought upon your words.  They have
   filled me with a kind of joy.  They have shown me another way
   to salvation, a way which I feel to be superior to the one I
   previously followed.

        Your way of renunciation is a strict one, which I feel
   to be good.  It suits my needs.  Therefore I request permission
   to be taken into your community of seekers, and to follow your
   path.


--

Bill Kinnersley
  Physics Department            BITNET: iphwk@mtsunix1
  Montana State University      INTERNET: iphwk%mtsunix1.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu
  Bozeman, MT 59717             CSNET: iphwk%mtsunix1.bitnet@relay.cs.net
  (406)994-3614                 UUCP: ...ucbvax!mtsunix1.bitnet!iphwk
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