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 12:52:44 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.uchicago.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.erols.net!peer.news.verio.net.MISMATCH!iad-peer.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!iad-read.news.verio.net.POSTED!kilgallen From: Kilgallen@eisner.decus.org.nospam (Larry Kilgallen) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: How to make Ada a dominant language Message-ID: 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> In article <3B69A428.B31867A4@san.rr.com>, Darren New writes: > 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. The first two are genuine standard calls, that execute code in user mode that happens to be part of the operating system. _That_ code then initiates a trap. Thus, the only interface from the user's program (which is what I thought we were talking about) is a standard call. The third is not a library call because it does not call a library. It is a call to a routine in the operating system base code that could be changed to use executive or kernel mode in a future version without breaking user programs.