From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,bc1361a952ec75ca X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-08-02 12:04:11 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.stealth.net!news-east.rr.com!news-west.rr.com!lsnws01.we.mediaone.net!cyclone-LA3.rr.com!typhoon.san.rr.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3B69A428.B31867A4@san.rr.com> From: Darren New Organization: Boxes! X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: How to make Ada a dominant language References: <3B6555ED.9B0B0420@sneakemail.com> <9k3l9r$10i2$1@pa.aaanet.ru> <3B656345.64AB603A@sneakemail.com> <9k3oa1$2qg8$1@pa.aaanet.ru> <3B657715.7EC592D9@sneakemail.com> <3B659726.33E301CA@san.rr.com> <9kae23$38a$1@news-central.tiac.net> <3B697B8B.175A87D8@san.rr.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 19:04:08 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.165.21.192 X-Complaints-To: abuse@rr.com X-Trace: typhoon.san.rr.com 996779048 24.165.21.192 (Thu, 02 Aug 2001 12:04:08 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 12:04:08 PDT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:11123 Date: 2001-08-02T19:04:08+00:00 List-Id: Larry Kilgallen wrote: > > In article <3B697B8B.175A87D8@san.rr.com>, Darren New writes: > > Ted Dennison wrote: > >> Unix is actually the odball > >> here, probably due to its C heritage. > > > > And when you get right down to it, OS calls are never standard calls > > unless your processor supports changing privledges as part of a "normal" > > call. (Or unless your OS makes no such privledge distinction, of > > course.) > > In VMS, the OS calls made by user mode programs are standard calls. > A portion of the operating system then takes that call (in user mode) > and does one of the following: > > traps to kernel mode > traps to executive mode > completes the work in user mode Well, I'd argue that the first two aren't standard calls (they're traps) and that the third is simply a library call. I.e., you could say the same things about C and UNIX. "read()" is really a C call that just happens to trap to the OS to do the work. My point was that there's a non-standard non-C calling convention involved in OS calls even in UNIX. That said, VMS is one of the cleanest processors for doing this sort of stuff, which is why everyone uses the same calling convention. :-) My point was that claiming it's easier to call the OS from C than from (say) Ada is specious, since calling "read()" in C isn't calling the OS. It's calling a C library function that isn't written in C and which then calls the OS with a non-C calling convention. > When discussing the universe of operating systems, it is best to > avoid use of the word "never". Or at least to be clear about what you're trying to express. -- Darren New / Senior MTS & Free Radical / Invisible Worlds Inc. San Diego, CA, USA (PST). Cryptokeys on demand. dnew@san.rr.com Only a WIMP puts wallpaper on his desktop.