[unios] Re: Priorities

[Pat Wendorf]

From: Pat Wendorf <beholder@ican.net>

> Pat's most recent list was:
>
> 1) Flexible
> 2) Stable/Reliable
> 3) Secure
> 4) Fast
> 5) User Friendly
>
> Anders wrote:
> > Performance is the biggest hassle. I guess some effort has to be put
> > into this.
>
> I think 4 and 5 should be switched.  The user (and programmer) is more
> important than speed of the system.  If the program is not what you want,
> or is not easy to understand, or is hard to maintain, then only the
> original programmer will be in a position to appreciate the program being
> fast.

That has been bothering me.  User friendliness, as I understood it only
applied to the User him/herself, not the developer.  But if you put it that
way, it makes sense to make the system easy for developers also.  I have not
posted the priorities yet, so there is still time to discuss them.

> Also, you may want to consider ease of use for programmers in addition to
> users.  I don't know how you view the distinction in UniOS, but in TUNES
> we strive to obliterate any difference.
>
> Pieter wrote:
> > What about 'Stable' on 1 ??
> Pat replied:
> > I agree that stability is very important, but I don't know
> > how we would focus on stability in the initial design.
>
> I agree with Pieter.  The system should NOT be able to disobey the user
> and programmer.  That is, it needs to conform to the specifications for
> behavior laid out in the objects created, shared, and controlled by users.
> That means no C-like inability to check array boundaries (for example).
> You CAN focus on stability in the initial design: use strong type
> checking, throughout the system.  This just means that operations are not
> allowed to operate on values that don't make sense.  I am currently
> developing a strong, integrated type system for TUNES, because I believe
> it is the center of the system.  There will be no kernel, just this type
> system.  All objects will take part in the type system (or they won't
> exist).
>
> In TUNES we say stability and reliability are just by-products of security
> (strong typechecking).  So when we say security we mean all three.

When we say security, we are talking about the privacy/networked type more
so.  Sorry for the confusion.

> So, my proposed revision of the priority list is:
> 1. Security
> 2. Flexibility
> 3. Easy to Use/Program
> 4. Fast

In the terminology I was using (which may not be right), that says it's an NC!
or TTY terminal ;)

> I have clarified my reasons for ordering 1-2 and 3-4.  As for 2-3, power
> (extensibility, expressibility) is more important than any easy way to use
> the power.  That is, you shouldn't limit the system to make it easier to
> use.  That is the mistake made by Microsoft and Apple: Too inflexible.  On
> the other hand I am aware of the mistake of Unix, which is too hard to
> use.  But Unix didn't even have "User Friendly" on its priority list at
> all, so we shouldn't be too hard on it.  That's all I have to say about
> the priorities for now.

I like the ideas you present, but I'd like to define some of the (possibly
different) terms I use:

Flexibility - The ability for the programmer/user to adapt the system to any
possibly need, due to a flexible, and hopefully simple design. (Hence it being
in the #1 position - "Universal"Os)

Stability - The need for the components that the system is composed of, to not
(be able) scrutinize the flow of run time code.  This does allow for incorrect
object usage (if binary is corrupted), as that is a logic bug, which should
not take down the system.  As you say, this will probably involve a typecheck
system.

Security - The ability to maintain privacy in multi-user and networked system.

Fast - A measure of responsiveness to a given task (server processes, single
user applications/games, etc.)

User Friendly - A measure of how intuitive and logical the system and
interfaces are to the user.

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



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