NEVILLE%umass-cs.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA (04/17/86)
From: "Neville D. Newman" <NEVILLE%umass-cs.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> >From: ccvaxa!aglew@caip.rutgers.edu > >> You know what all these problems sound like? They sound like >>compatibility problems between C and BCPL. I'm wondering why the Amiga >>people didn't just stick to one hl-language! > >Seconded! This has been the thing that has frightened me most about the Amiga >- an OS written in BCPL in England, based upon something originally written >in LISP, interfacing to stuff written in C in the USA. A recipe for bug >stew. > >(What other operating system do you know was written in several languages? >Hint: it runs on VAXes. It is not UNIX. It has (well, used to have; >probably still does) a lot of bugs and annoying misfeatures.) The *truly* apropriate response to this last statement can be found between the covers of Engel's "Analyzing Informal Fallacies". Although OS's are almost as delicate an issue as editors (see the AmigaDOS/ UNIX/OS9 wars early in this list's postings), i think that people who regularly use more than one system usually recognize that each has merits over the other(s). And casual experience with any system is more likely to cause dismay than anything else. i will give the system you hint at the arbitrary initials VMS, randomly chosen from a book that happens to be on my desk. i regularly use this system, along with 4BSD UNIX, ULTRIX, and CP/M-68K. There are differences in all these OS's (even UNIX vs. ULTRIX) that are sometimes nice and sometimes annoying. i would not like to give up any of them. One of the things that i like about VMS is what you would claim is the underlying reason for most of the system bugs and misfeatures. The ability to program a system, at all levels, in the language of your choice is most definitely a Good Thing. VMS defines a calling standard for interfacing between languages and when it is followed programs work. We have an image- processing system that proves this. If the core of the system were user- contributed software, i would agree that this was a can of worms with a lot of potential for bad. However, that is not the case. A final comment on VMS: most what i consider misfeatures stem from the fact that since process creation is expensive on VMS, many utilities re-implement functionality provided by another system utility. Please don't let this discussion take off agan on the OS-Wars tack... this posting was intended solely to offer a modicum of support for a much-maligned system that has some good things going for it. -neville