Re:What Is Systems Programming, Really?
by AnimalMuppet on Saturday March 11, 2023 @08:17AM
(#35108044)
To me, one difference often is how much you have available to build on. At least for some "systems programming", the answer is: Not much.
Take an OS, for instance. You can build on the other parts of the OS (if they exist yet, and/or if your layered architecture permits you to), and the bare metal. That's it. That's all you have.
Contrast that with writing an app on top of, say, a POSIX-compliant OS, and there's a huge difference in how you program. Sure, as other comments point out, there's a continuum of points between the two, but there also is a pretty stark difference between the ends of the spectrum.
Guessing a bit here, but the difference may more generally be that in application programming, you are more constrained by the logic and purpose of the application, and in systems programming, you are more constrained by the system. The app is more stand-alone, and the system is defined by the interaction of the components. From this perspective, it may be fair to think of a microservices architecture as "systems programming".
Take an OS, for instance. You can build on the other parts of the OS (if they exist yet, and/or if your layered architecture permits you to), and the bare metal. That's it. That's all you have.
Contrast that with writing an app on top of, say, a POSIX-compliant OS, and there's a huge difference in how you program. Sure, as other comments point out, there's a continuum of points between the two, but there also is a pretty stark difference between the ends of the spectrum.
Guessing a bit here, but the difference may more generally be that in application programming, you are more constrained by the logic and purpose of the application, and in systems programming, you are more constrained by the system. The app is more stand-alone, and the system is defined by the interaction of the components. From this perspective, it may be fair to think of a microservices architecture as "systems programming".