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From: "Vladimir Olensky" <vladimir_olensky@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Erlang (Was Re: Answering an Ada/COBOL Question)
Date: 1999/11/19
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Date: 1999-11-19T00:00:00+00:00
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>Robert Dewar wrote in message <80vgad$mb6$1@nnrp1.deja.com>...

>>  Samuel Tardieu <sam@ada.eu.org> wrote:

>> Its main advantage over Ada is, IMO, the ability to replace
>> running code.
>
>Since this was a COBOL thread originally, it is appropriate
>to point out that COBOL has always had this capability, it is
>quite normal to extend the functionality of a COBOL program
>and add modules to a running program without stopping it.

In addition to Erlang and COBOL I would like to mention here
Oberon BlackBox framework based on Component Pascal
which also has this capability to install and remove software
modules without stopping the whole system.
I understand this as a trend in software industry that  could
become a MUST in some future.

"Hot-swap" capability is a very important one in making
system maintenance, upgrades  and troubleshooting much
easier.  In reality it is much more often used in hardware than
in software.

I wonder why this COBOL experience (it seems that it was
the first in this area ???) was not implemented till recently in
other languages that were intended for reliable systems ?


Regards,
Vladimir Olensky