In the Beginning was the Command Line (1999)

Re:In the Beginning was the Command Line (1999) by lproven on Saturday November 07, 2020 @07:55AM (#25014800)

I think they are, but OTOH I think that's acceptably safe when it's a single-user, client-side-only OS written in a rigorously bounds-checked, type-safe language.

I suspect that the obsession with process isolation in xNix reflects its origins: as a terminal-based multi-user OS written in perhaps the least-safe high-level language ever developed, one in which it is necessary to deploy terrible techniques such as pointer arithmetic just to get anything done at all.

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Re:In the Beginning was the Command Line (1999) by vram22 on Sunday November 08, 2020 @04:33PM (#25029279)

Mostly agree. Didn't know Oberon was a single user OS, though I did read that Wirth was also involved with creating the Lilith workstation (he missed the chance to call it a Wirthstation :), so it could make sense that Oberon was single-user too.

What's so wrong with C pointer arithmetic, per se? I know about the issues with pointers in general, having used C a lot, earlier. But the arithmetic?

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Re:In the Beginning was the Command Line (1999) by lproven on Tuesday November 10, 2020 @10:16AM (#25046829)

There are multiple issues with pointer arithmetic and it is widely regarded as one of the weakest, most failure-prone points in the C language.

Some discussion: https://www.cs.swarthmore.edu/~richardw/classes/cs31/s18/off...

http://web.cse.ohio-state.edu/~reeves.92/CSE2421au12/SlidesD...

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Re:In the Beginning was the Command Line (1999) by vram22 on Tuesday November 10, 2020 @12:43PM (#25048660)

Thanks, will look at those.

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