Re: Multitasking theory question

["AG" <ang@xtra.co.nz>]

"Mark Biggar" <mark.a.biggar@attbi.com> wrote in message
news:3D16B14B.2A5D8261@attbi.com...
> AG wrote:
> >
> > "Ted Dennison" <dennison@telepath.com> wrote in message
> > news:3D128BA9.8090707@telepath.com...
> > > Kai Schuelke wrote:
> >
> > > How tasks are implemented is up to the compiler.
> > <<...>>
> > > DOS has no process support of any kind, Win32 supports threads.
> >
> > What does it have to do with DOS or any OS for that matter?
> > Surely, a run-time system can implement whatever scheduling
> > it wants to (within hardware capabilities that is). After all, what
> > is an OS but a glorified run-time system...
>
> The OS can greatly effect how things work.  For example if your
> run-time system implements its own threads inside a OS process
> then things like the OS blocking the process on IO and other
> services can interfere with the run-times internal threading.

Well, yes, of course - if you take an axe and make sure
that chips are exactly that, no arguing with that sort of thing ...

However, what I was driving at is a sort of a virtual machine:
- *assuming* it runs at all, and lets you do some basic things
like Turing machine, where does an OS come into it? Sure, it
may take ages for anything to happen if the computer is sufficiently
slow but you still can implement whatever scheduling you like.