Re: Lisp and low-level operating system development

Rob Thorpe wrote:
Ulrich Hobelmann wrote:
Rob Thorpe wrote: 
If you write C code to the POSIX API
you're quite safe, but it'd still be much better if you just had a
simple API to get information about certain objects.

Do you mean for the user or the programmer?  For the programmer it's
more uniform than for the user, but it's not that difficult for either.


I think you're criticising Unix and C together.  These days we don't
really have to use them together, it's possible to pick other
implementation languages, which helps a great deal.

I'm not complaining about the underlying Unix concept of files and directories, and simple byte-streams. I'm only complaining about the actual systems built on top of it, with *everything* done in totally ad-hoc ways. It isn't really about C, but of course C plays a role, due to its lack of good abstractions and modularity. The Unix system of linking and loading also plays a role.

You can't simply
build a new OS or powerful API without lots of money behind you and your
boss saying that your idea is ok, even though it might take years to persue.

Hmm, I'm not sure about that. It's been done in the past :).

Yes, but today nobody would pay money for an operating system or platform. Languages and compilers, frameworks and platforms are free. Only services sell. Maybe with a good marketing team you could convince people that buying a good platform is cheaper than hiring thousands of service hours, though. Fighting against IBM, Sun, Java, and Linux ;)

--
The problems of the real world are primarily those you are left with
when you refuse to apply their effective solutions.
	Edsger W. Dijkstra
.

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