Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ames!ll-xn!mit-eddie!bbn!oberon!pollux.usc.edu!papa From: papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech Subject: Recoverable GURU (was Re: IEEE libraries) Keywords: IEEE, GURU, Death, Horror Message-ID: <12177@oberon.USC.EDU> Date: 15 Sep 88 05:30:23 GMT References: <1356@percival.UUCP> <358@boing.UUCP> <1570@sbcs.sunysb.edu> <7096@well.UUCP> <731@super.ORG> <630@myrias.UUCP> Sender: news@oberon.USC.EDU Reply-To: papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) Distribution: na Organization: Felsina Software, Los Angeles, CA Lines: 38 In article <630@myrias.UUCP> cg@myrias.UUCP (Chris Gray) writes: >There seems to be two sides to the argument about what to do when a library >use-count goes negative. One side wants a GURU (possibly recoverable) so that >the offending program will be found quickly and fixed. The other side wants >no more GURUs, because they make the machine look bad. [omitted text] >Part of the problem is a difference in philosophy, I suspect. Some people >want a perfect world with no bugs; others just want things to usually work. >I lean towards the former, personally. There is no such thing as a "perfect world with no bugs". That's a utopistic ideal. Bugs are here and will always be here. No matter whether you write software for UNIX or AmigaDOS. I sincerely believe that making the Amiga OS more "recoverable" to application errors doesn't imply that all of a sudden I'll start writing sloppy code. In fact, if I know that the system will show a flashy thing saying "Task A-Talk closed library too many times", I'll be even more motivated to make sure that such a thing does not happen. While the "Guru Meditation" might have HAD some Zen meaning to the original Amiga Developers/Designers, it clearly gives the End User and potential purchaser of the Amiga a pretty sloppy image. You see, if you are running PC DOS and the machine crashes, you know which program did it. On the Amiga, it could be ANY of the programs currently running. The end result is that the system software often gets blamed when in fact it was an application (as in the case of the negative library count) that screwed up. Resource tracking would be great, but with the current CBM software resources it is out of the question. On the other hand, there are a few things (like the recoverable library closing) that should not entail great changes and still have a considerable effect on the "image" of the Amiga as a computer one can "rely on". Now back on to the reproduction business. Gee, I've been married 7 years and still have no children. I guess I am programming too much :-) [only 160 bytes] -- Marco Papa 'Doc' -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= uucp:...!pollux!papa BIX:papa ARPAnet:pollux!papa@oberon.usc.edu "There's Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Diga!" -- Leo Schwab [quoting Rick Unland] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=