Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!cadre!pitt!cisunx!ejkst
From: ejkst@cisunx.UUCP (Eric J. Kennedy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Apple System 7.0
Message-ID: <18037@cisunx.UUCP>
Date: 14 May 89 23:27:52 GMT
References: <17148@usc.edu> <24279@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <18268@cup.portal.com> <17183@usc.edu> <21814@srcsip.UUCP>
Reply-To: ejkst@unix.cis.pittsburgh.edu (Eric J. Kennedy)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Comp & Info Sys
Lines: 38

In article <21814@srcsip.UUCP> mnkonar@gorby.UUCP (Murat N. Konar) writes:
>So what?  What advantages does 'true multi-tasking' (by which I assume you mean
>pre-emptive multi-tasking) have over Apple's co-operative multi-tasking?  Co-
>operative multi-tasking has significant user interface advantges over the
>pre-emptive kind.  

For starters, there are the thousands of programs written before
multi-finder that don't know how to multitask.  This problem will
decrease with time, because programs will be updated, but I'd be
willing to bet that the majority of the software will not be.

>I for one would rather not have my application pre-empted by a background process
>in the middle of say a menu selection.  Any one who has used TOPS while a large
>file transfer is in progress can attest to the fact that having the interface
>slow down is a real drag.  (TOPS for those who may not know, is an AppleTalk
>fileserver system that runs in the 'background')

Well, if that happens, then something wasn't written very well, now was
it?  Certainly my menus don't slow down because of a background process.
Even if my application is pre-empted by a background process in the
middle of a menu selection, my menu selection proceeds normally, since
the menus are handled by another task, one at a high priority.  That's
another advantage of 'true multi-tasking'.

>Sure, pre-emptive multi-tasking makes it easier for the programmer who would rather
>not worry about whether he's in the background or whatever, but it's the user's
>view that matters most.  That's what the Mac's all about.

Done right, you can make life easier for both.  

main(){printf("hello world\n");} 

is a multitasking program on a proper OS.  Neither the programmer nor
the user has to make any special considerations for multitasking.

-- 
Eric Kennedy
ejkst@cisunx.UUCP