usrgroup@utgpu.UUCP (04/06/87)
UNIX 87/etc: Day 3: Unix Development Directions Day 3 Chairman: Michael Tilson, HCR, specializes in Unix systems software, op- timizing compilers and software tools. Themes: 1/ Standards, National And International; 2/ Graphics And Window Systems; 3/ Networking And Distributed Unix Systems; 4/ System Architectures And The Future Of Unix; 5/ Realtime, Enhancements For Unix; 6/ Compilers And Languages Standards: National And International Chairman: Dr. Heinz Lycklama, Interactive Systems, has been honoured for his contributions to the standardization of the Unix system. Abstract: The Unix market has traditionally been highly fragmented, around pro- duct lines and processor architectures. A number of significant organizations, most represented on this panel, are addressing this issue through standardiza- tion proposals. This session will summarize these efforts and speculate on the eventual emergence of a pervasive Unix standard. Standards: National And International Speaker: Jim Isaak, DEC, is chairman of the IEEE ISO working group dealing with a Posix-based operating system standard. The Status Of The IEEE, ANSI And ISO Standards Posix Efforts: Isaak will look at the objectives of the Posix effort for an operating system environment based on the Unix OS. The projects and progress of the IEEE 1003. 1, 1003. 2 and 1003. 3 working groups, targets for the full-use Posix standard and the related ISO work will be discussed. He will also touch on the outstanding issues in hopes of gaining feedback in these areas. Speaker: Arthur Sabsevitz, AT&T, is employed on the development of the Unix system kernel and associated applications. Standardization: SVID And SVVS: Sabsevitz will focus on the System V Verifica- tion Suite (based on AT&T's System V Interface Definition), created to allow Unix users to verify their system for conformance to SVID definitions. Standards: National And International Speaker: Mike Lambert, X/OPEN, ICL, is chairman of the technical strategy panel of the X/OPEN Group. X/OPEN: In his presentation, Lambert will outline the history of the X/OPEN in- itiative, the membership of the group, the technical scope of the group's ac- tivities and how it relates to the national and international standards bodies. Standards: National And International Speaker: Karen Barnes, Hewlett-Packard, is HP's representative at X/OPEN's internationalization group. International Unix: Her speech will revolve around an international Unix system developed by HP which is language- independent and includes all the tools re- quired for developing language-independent software. Its implementation and details of HP's findings will be discussed. System Architectures And The Future Of Unix Chairman: Richard Sniderman, HCR, is involved with various Unix implementation projects, the most recent being the ETA-10 supercomputer. Abstract: His speech will be based on the premise that Unix's growth has been fueled, in part, by the relative ease with which it can be ported to diverse architectures. He will discuss whether this growth will be able to continue, presenting recent developments in system architectures and examining the asso- ciated issues in providing Unix. System Architectures And The Future Of Unix Speaker: Richard Wirt, Intel, has participated in various Unix and C-related projects at Intel and the IEEE. Abstract: Wirt will give an overview of the changes Intel made to the 80286 ar- chitecture to make the 80386 a good Unix machine. In addition, he will give an overview of the Unix System V/386 Release 3. 0 port and third-party Unix software for the 386 that is currently available. System Architectures And The Future Of Unix Speaker: Gael Curry, Sequent Computer Systems, works on the design and develop- ment of distributed software for supporting graphical interfaces over networks. Multi-Processors And Unix - A Look Forward: This talk will review trends in the evolution of multi-processor hardware, along with some trends in the evolution of Unix and its derivatives. The strengths and weaknesses of each will be dis- cussed. He will hypothesize ways in which these newer Unix multi-processor systems will become specialized to serve different markets. System Architectures And The Future Of Unix Speaker: Brian Baird, Myrias Research, is responsible for the OS implementation on Myrias' parallel computer systems. Abstract: A Myrias parallel computing system consists of a large number of in- dependent processing elements with local memory and a high-bandwidth inter- processor communication system. A distributed implementation for the Unix ker- nel is discussed. Emphasis is placed on the design of file system servers, in- cluding factors involving performance, parallelism and redundancy. Other to- pics covered include the implementation of servers for the system call inter- face, device and terminal interfaces, I/O processors and other facets of the Unix kernel. System Architectures And The Future Of Unix Speaker: Tom Murphy, ETA Systems, is responsible for System V as it exists on ETA machines. Unix And Supercomputers: Unix was originially developed as a small system, ful- filling the needs of a small number of researchers. Supercomputers, however, are typically commercial ventures serving large numbers of users. The combina- tion of the two in a meaningful way is a non-trivial endeavour. Murphy develops some of these major issues, including the considerations imposed by the supercomputer architectures, using the ETA10 as an example. Graphics And Window Systems Chairman: Kim Davidson, Omnibus Computer Graphics, is the director of computer animation. Abstract: The future success of computer graphics and animation will rely heavily on attracting top graphic designers and animators. A good user inter- face is the key to attracting these artists and the development of a good user interface inevitably starts with good window systems. Graphics And Window Systems Speaker: David La Vallee, Sun Microsystems, is responsible for programming en- vironment and user interface support. Window Systems For Workstations And Personal Computers: A technical discussion of window systems for technical workstations and PCs, this talk covers features and benefits of portable, networked window systems, such as the Network exten- sible Window System (NeWS) and the X Window System. Topics covered will in- clude the PostScript page description language, interactive graphics perfor- mance over a network and the implications for user interfaces and other window systems. Graphics And Window Systems Speaker: Ralph Swick, MIT, is employed by DEC and assigned to Project Athena, responsible for window systems developments. X Window System: Project Athena is the use of computer technology to improve the education of under-graduate students at MIT. One of the earliest tangible products of the project was the X Window System. This presentation will cover the design fundamentals of the latest version of X Window, Version 11. The focus will be primarily on the facilities supplied to applications developers for using the display hardware. The presentation will also outline the specif- ic facilities available to support a variety of user interface management poli- cies. Networking And Distributed Unix Systems Chairman: George Pajari, Clarendon Datex, consults on Unix, C and data communi- cations. Abstract: There are several major approaches to transparent distributed file systems under Unix. This session will explore the various options, including AT&T's Streams/RFS and Sun's NFS, and will look at possible future develop- ments, typified by Carnegie Mellon's Mach system. Networking And Distributed Unix Systems Speaker: Dr. Anthony West, Sun Microsystems, is manager of strategic systems engineering. Network Services: The Future Of Multi-Vendor Distributed Computing: A technical discussion of advanced network services, such as the Network File System (NFS), remote execution, Yellow Pages, and PC integration for multi-vendor computer networks. Networking And Distributed Unix Systems Speaker: Arthur Sabsevitz, AT&T (see Standards for biography) Networking: Streams And Remote File Sharing: Unix System V Release 3 (SVR3) provides the framework to build solutions that extend user access to informa- tion and computing resources across different computers and across multiple networks. Streams provides a powerful framework for the modular implementation and separation of protocols and media. Remote File Sharing (RFS) allows the selective sharing of resources across a network. Both the Streams mechanism and RFS capability will be described, with specific emphasis on their unique properties. Networking And Distributed Unix Systems Speaker: Avadis Tevanian, Carnegie Mellon University, has been a principal designer and implementor of the Mach OS. Mach: A Basis For Future Unix Development: Computing in the future will be sup- ported by distributed computing environments. These environments will consist of a wide range of hardware architectures in both the uni-processor and multi- processor domain. Mach is an operating system that has been designed with the intent to integrate both distributed and multiprocessor functionality. In ad- dition, Mach provides the foundation upon which future Unix development may take place in these new environments. Realtime, Enhancements In Unix Chairman: William Corwin, Intel, is chairman of the /usr/group realtime Unix working group and co-chairman of the P1003. 1 realtime extensions subcommittee. Realtime Extensions To The Unix Operating System: The focus of the session will be an examination of the technical implications of extending the Unix operating system to support applications with realtime requirements: the ability to respond to events or provide a level of service within bounded time limit. The session will examine the implications of supporting realtime applications from a user's perspective and will also review current implementations. Realtime, Enhancements In Unix Speaker: Gregg Kellogg, Hewlett-Packard, represents HP on the IEEE P1003 and /usr/group realtime standards committees. Abstract: Realtime features of an operating system, though important, are overshadowed by the poor system responsiveness generally associated with Unix kernel implementations. HP's realtime feature set, as well as it's solution to the responsiveness problem, through kernel pre-emption, help solve these prob- lems, leading to a fully-conforming Unix implementation providing outstanding realtime response. The role of standards and the future of Unix realtime are discussed in conclusion. Realtime, Enhancements In Unix Speaker: Jack White, Industrial Technical Institute, is the manager of the fac- tory controls group. The Role Of Standards In The Development Of Workstation Controllers: This talk will focus on the requirements for a standard real-time operating system. White will look at the computing requirements for workstation controls and re- late these to necessary features of the operating system. The presentation will conclude with a short discussion of our experiences using Unix as a basis for a workstation controller (WSC). White will argue that standards should play an important role in the development of generic WSCs. Compilers And Languages Chairman: Dr. Hugh Redelmeier, HCR, is a member of the portable code optimizer (PCO) project and has been working with Unix since 1975. An Optimizing Compiler Can Improve Programmer Productivity: The C language al- lows the programmer to program at quite a low level. With the advent of optim- ization in C compilers, programmers are often freed from having the program at this low level. In effect, this allows the programmer to treat C as a higher- level language. One of the most important features of C is its portability. Generally, low-level optimization cannot be done without reference to the im- plementation. If these optimizations are left to an optimizing compiler, the program will be more portable. Compilers And Languages Speaker: Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup, AT&T Bell Laboratories, is the designer and implementor of C++ and a member of the computer science research centre at AT&T Bell Labs. What Is C++?: C++ is a widely available and used general-purpose programming language that is a better C, supports data abstraction and supports object- oriented programming. Stroustrup presents an overview of the language, some observations on its current use, and some guesses at its future. Compilers And Languages Speaker: Dr. Ric Holt, University Of Toronto, has helped develop such languages and compiler systems as PL/C (PL/1 for IBM mainframes), SP/k (PL/1), SUE, Concurrent Euclid and Turing. Turing: A General-Purpose Language On Unix: The Turing programming language, developed at the U of T, has proven to be useful as an alternative to Pascal and Basic. Turing provides an easy-to-learn notation, a modern set of features (including modules, dynamic arrays, pre/post assertions and convenient strings), based on a precise mathematical specification, with a completely checked (fail stop) implementation. The Turing Plus extension features con- currency, checked separate compilation, exception handling and machine- dependent escapes needed for systems programming. ............................................................................... The Conference Guide for Unix '87/etc was produced by ComputerData magazine, on behalf of /usr/group/cdn and Communications 86. For more information on the conference or tutorial program call GSC Services at 416/883-1103.