Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!ucsd!ames!mailrus!uflorida!gatech!hubcap!rchampe
From: rchampe@hubcap.UUCP (Richard Champeaux)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Amiga is NOT a multi-tasking computer system !!
Summary: Multi-tasking not just for running multiple programs
Keywords: computer chronicles
Message-ID: <2861@hubcap.UUCP>
Date: 26 Aug 88 02:58:35 GMT
References: <120@tityus.UUCP> <3179@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM>
Organization: Clemson University, Clemson, SC
Lines: 35

In article <3179@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM>, wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) writes:
> 
> Multitasking was around long before the Amiga.  Still most people don't use
> multitasking that much.  For the most part 99.99% of the things that people
> use multitasking for can be handled by desk accessories, which in fact is
> a type (albeit, limited) of multitasking. 
> 

     Multitasking is not used only for running multiple programs.  A lot of
multitasking goes on in a multitasking operating system that you don't see
but is important to improving the efficiency of a computer.  I/O is well
suited for multitasking.  For example: Why should the program wait on the
printer or console to finish it's output before continuing?  Although many
computers use interrupts to do these things, that method is limited. A
multitasking enviroment also provides a consistant and easy interface to
functions like these.  
     From what I read in an article in BYTE about 2 years ago (written by
a Mac developer who disliked the Mac's programming enviroment),  the Mac's
non-multitasking solution to the problem of "What do I do when I'm printing?"
is to pass the address of a short routine to the driver that can be called
whenever the driver is waiting for the printer.  It seems to me that such
a method would be very limited and greatly complicate software that wishes
to use that feature.
     The Amiga's solution is to pass the data to a multitasking driver and
continue on with the program.  Any additional requests issued before the
first is finished are queued up by the driver.  If it is necessary  wait
for the I/O to finish, the status of the request can be checked.


> 
>                         Cheers,
>                              Wayne Knapp


Rich Champeaux
Clemson University