Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!bbn!husc6!encore!xenna!paradis
From: paradis@xenna.Encore.COM (Jim Paradis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Fork and process creation
Message-ID: <7265@xenna.Encore.COM>
Date: 27 May 89 00:31:27 GMT
References: <21236@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Sender: news@Encore.COM
Reply-To: paradis@xenna.UUCP (Jim Paradis)
Organization: The Whizzo Chocolate Company
Lines: 13

bobmon@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (RAMontante) writes:
>In Unix a pipe involves file system calls (so it "looks like" low-level
>file I/O to a process), but the writes and reads never go beyond the
>file buffer in memory.

Point of information: in System V, pipes use the normal buffer cache
and are in fact assigned filesystem blocks to use.  If disk I/O 
gets REALLY hot && heavy then it is conceivable that a pipe will
indeed incur disk I/O.  Of course, if this gets to be the case then
your system is probably performing like a dog already...

Jim Paradis	paradis@encore.com		508-460-0500
(My other .signature is a witty saying)