Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sri-unix!rbbb@rice From: rbbb%rice@sri-unix.UUCP Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards Subject: Re: abnjh.490 Tapes on Unix Message-ID: <17425@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Sun, 11-Mar-84 03:57:27 EST Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.17425 Posted: Sun Mar 11 03:57:27 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 13-Mar-84 08:31:48 EST Lines: 26 From: David ChaseFLUSH THE OLD!!! The SleazeNix paradigm (flaky kernel, no design) SUCKS!! Rewrite the flaky /dev/ralph-and-fido dependent programs, along with the malloc-free-realloc dependent programs. If any one really cared about software development and progress, these things would have been done long ago. I'm tired of having to build and collect my own stable of "real" software (stuff that fails gracefully, stuff that is flexible and easy to use, stuff that knows that is running on a VAX, not a PDP-7). (Flame off --) I would very very very much like to see an extended standard library to do things like Block Moves, Substring generation, extraction, etc. This standard library would come with a REAL definition and portable C code, but Unix implementors would be free (encouraged) to code up efficient versions in assembler. This was done for BCPL, with good (tasteful and useful) results. I wrote some of these myself, resulting in cleaner, faster code (For instance, the VAX movc3 instruction runs 7 times faster than anything the C compiler would generate for me). I realize that programming in assembly language gives most Unix jocks the trembles, but you only have to do it once correctly, and then it's all over. (Not an assembler hacker, just a fan of speed and abstraction) drc