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From: dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)
Subject: Re: IRQs and interrupt handlers under Win95
Date: 1998/05/21
Message-ID: <dewar.895786181@merv>#1/1
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Date: 1998-05-21T00:00:00+00:00
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Michael said

<<It is really a shame that at this late stage in computing science
that we still need interrupts to get control of the basic input
and output of our machines, particularly key strokes, mouse strokes,
RS232 strokes, etc.
>>

Yes, well I am sure there are people who think it is a shame that we
are still not programming in absolute, but the fact is that a modern
operating system is in the business of controlling the sharing of
resources, and you can't let people just blunder in and seize control
of "the basic input and output of our machines". When cars first appeared,
it must have seemed wonderful to be able to go wherever you wanted, and
no doubt people felt it was "really a shame" when traffic cops appeared :-)

<<Yes, unfortunately, the Ada language has not standardized on how to
spell this accross DOS, Unix, Windows 9x, JBC, bard board systems, and other
interrupt-driven systems.
>>

Nothing unfortunate about this at all, any attempt to standardize this 
would be doomed to failure because of substantial differences at the hardware
level in the way interrupt systems behave (even if you stay within the PC
family, and your suggestion above seems to want to wander outside those
constraints)