Philosophical musings: interpreting models

[shapj@us.ibm.com]

This conversation is a bit silly.  There are both low-level and high-level
problems in operating systems.  There are times when a single body of code must
address both.  One wants neither a low-level nor a high-level language, but
rather a language that meets the requirements.  Relative to *current* languages
this means a language that has low-level primitives but is highly extensible.
LISP is one candidate.  OCAML is a much better one (type safety), and lately has
been running very efficiently.

Straightjackets are necessary for people who don't think well.  Operating
systems are complex and require careful thought.  People who require
straightjackets therefore do not build operating systems well, regardless of the
presence or absence of straightjackets.

Jonathan S. Shapiro, Ph. D.
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Email: shapj@us.ibm.com
Phone: +1 914 784 7085  (Tieline: 863)
Fax: +1 914 784 7595