Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2.fluke 9/24/84; site vax4.fluke.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!hao!hplabs!tektronix!uw-beaver!fluke!moriarty From: moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) Newsgroups: net.micro.68k Subject: Holy Holistic, Batman! (OS-9 and the art of being holistic) Message-ID: <2722@vax4.fluke.UUCP> Date: Sun, 29-Sep-85 01:27:37 EDT Article-I.D.: vax4.2722 Posted: Sun Sep 29 01:27:37 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 3-Oct-85 05:12:16 EDT References: <576@sftig.UUCP> <1001@bnl44.UUCP> <11467@rochester.UUCP> <971@sdcsla.UUCP> <2664@vax4.fluke.UUCP> <236@graffiti.UUCP> Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA Lines: 39 In article <236@graffiti.UUCP> peter@graffiti.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes: >> All in all, a very holistic system to program for. > >*FLAME ON* You just blew your credibility buddy *FLAME OFF* > >Seriously, though. What makes OS/9 more "holistic" than UNIX? Back when >I was a tadpole "holism" was merely a method of approaching a problem. >It meant looking at the problem as a whole instead of a bunch of little >unconnected peices. The opposite is "reductionism" (not "conventionalism"), >which means breaking the problem down into parts small enough to deal with. Egads! I can't exist on the net without credibility! What I meant was that OS-9, *as an operating system* seems to have been designed with a unified, complete and solid idea of what they wanted and how in general it was to be implemented (though the actual software is quite modular in form, which would not be holistic). In particular, after watching several revisions of OS-9 come along with new features, I've been startled with how easily the new features fit into the current call structure of the operating system. Opening a named pipe is done through open(), and you read and write from it with no special features like sockets, etc. Forks are done by giving the name of your function and the parameters to a OS-9 system call, and the routine is forked into a child process -- no having to place both parent and child code into a big "if" statement. All these features seem to have been snuggled into the old OS call interface with no problem a'tall (although this is less obvious at the shell level). I admit that I was using the term in a manner one associates with Japanese car commercials... "WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF AN ALIEN ATTACK: ONE) Hide beneath the seat of your plane and look away. TWO) Avoid eye contact. THREE) If there are no eyes, avoid all contact." Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty <*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>