mac@uvacs.UUCP (04/28/84)
As many have pointed out, MULTICS allowed files to be treated as memory. However, separate files were in separate segments. Memory was two dimensional rather than a simple linear vector -- segment X offset. The tendency there as well as in the iAPX432, etc. is in the opposite direction. Instead of treating main memory as a simple linear memory it's broken into small objects with lengths, operations, access rights, etc. attached. It's usually not possible to acquire a pointer into a piece of such an object. The piece must be addresses as object|offset. In SmallTalk (& LOOM) the object must be asked (politely) to accept or deliver some value. This may involve arbitrary computation. Such objects don't resemble traditional memory very much.