[unios] Re: Generic Design

Pat Wendorf beholder@ican.net
Thu, 10 Dec 1998 11:53:08 -0500


From: Pat Wendorf <beholder@ican.net>

> The generic design implies this:
>
>  - objects can be accessed by other objects if those have the right
> permissions.
>  - files are objects.

Yes, but Posix does not say that data files could possibly contain code to
allow native manipulation of the data without having the original program, you
can't do that with a generic file, as it is a static piece of data to be
manipulated by a program... this was implied in the design. Also File linkage
and child objects are a different concept altogether... it's a different
method of organization, rather than the same old thing with extensions...  I'm
sure Anders has a good idea of what Posix is, and I don't claim that the idea
is perfect, but I can't say it's just Posix with a different name... There are
some critical differences, and advantages with this system, over Posix. Posix
does not deal with objects, and methods, it has only files... Objects can
perform complex interconnect hierarchies of data exchange, without special
programs to do so.  I guess to summarize, objects can communicate with the
whole system rather than just read and change like file handling... This is
just my idea, and I don't have enough experience with the Posix model to know
if this stuff is covered, but it all sounds new to me, and certainly well
beyond the realms of any Unix system I've ever dealt with.

> I'm not saying POSIX is the best OS interface and I surely don't say Unix
> has a good low-level design, but when you just look at POSIX (= the unix
> interface & APIs), it's still the best design we have up to today.

That's why we have to think of new things... I do believe the idea presented
was a step in the right direction towards finding a _NEW_ system. The only
other system I have in mind is neural... and I sure as hell don't have the
design experience or the proper knowledge to be able to implement or design
such a system... But it would be another possibility.... :)  Maybe I will
think more about it...

> We will really have to think about something _NEW_ if we want more
> flexibility (on the level higher than the kernel), or stay with the
> designs we have, i.e. POSIX,Win32 and some others.

Unless the designs we have now can be as flexible as we want this system, then
we have to have something new...

I do see however, you have strong ideas and knowledge on this subject, what
would you recommend?

--
-----------------------------
Pat Wendorf
UniOS Group
http://members.xoom.com/unios
beholder@ican.net
ICQ: 1503733
-----------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help support ONElist, while generating interest in your product or
service. ONElist has a variety of advertising packages. Visit
http://www.onelist.com/advert.html for more information.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
UniOS Group
http://members.xoom.com/unios