Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!orion.cf.uci.edu!uci-ics!zardoz!tgate!ka3ovk!drilex!axiom!linus!mbunix!rachamp From: rachamp@mbunix.mitre.org (Richard A. Champeaux) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Multitasking revisited Message-ID: <62826@linus.UUCP> Date: 7 Aug 89 13:08:00 GMT References: <8908041840.AA00412@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Sender: news@linus.UUCP Reply-To: rachamp@mbunix (Champeaux) Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, Mass. Lines: 31 In article <8908041840.AA00412@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> 01659@AECLCR.BITNET (Greg Csullog) writes: >Some netters replied to my first sermon on multitasking with the classical >response about doing something else while downloading files. Hell, you do >not need a multitasking environment to do this, just get a hold of one of >the telecom packages on the market that allows backgound file transfers. > >You don't need a full blown multitasking environment for something as simple >as file transfers in the background! The point is that with an operating system that supports multi-tasking, you don't need special software to accomplish these tasks. Someone sent me mail telling me that they could do the things I mentioned with well written software. Well, if your OS multi-tasks, you can do it with ALL your software, not just the well written ones. Most of what I use on my Amiga is PD software. I can't imagine that a PD author would take the time to put in all of the tricks "well written software" do to emulate a multi-tasking enviroment. On the Amiga, I can spawn off a child task with less than 10 lines of code. After that it's running indepently; I don't have to take care of the task switching. I can then communicate with it through global structures, or more properly, with the Amiga's message passing system. By the way, I'm using the Amiga as an example to say "Multi-tasking is the best", I'm not trying to use multi-tasking as an example to say "The Amiga is the best." Anyways, as far as multi-tasking goes; don't knock it 'til you've tried it. Rich Champeaux (rachamp@mbunix.mitre.org) "Hey Mikey! He likes it!"