Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!spdcc!merk!alliant!linus!mbunix!duncant
From: duncant@mbunix.mitre.org (Thomson)
Newsgroups: comp.realtime
Subject: What is "real-time" really?
Message-ID: <98692@linus.UUCP>
Date: 23 Feb 90 05:16:53 GMT
Sender: news@linus.UUCP
Organization: The MITRE Corp., Bedford, MA
Lines: 14



Someone asked me recently what real-time really means.  After some thought,
I answered that real-time systems were simply those {in which the 
timing constraints were so tight that speciall programming techniques
were required.  Under this definition, a "real-time" system of today may
become a non-real-time system whan hardware gets fast enough that I can 
program it using any regular old operating system (say plain old UNIX)
using high level language (no assembly language optimization) and not have
to worry about my software failing to meet its deadlines.
~rk
Anyone care to comment?  What is the best definition of real-time?

Duncan Thomson