🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan21.173741.7225@netcom.com>, nagle@netcom.com (John
Nagle) wrote:
> 
>        - The system is "brittle", in that incorrect parameters to system 
> 	 calls can result in system errors.  (This is not true of UNIX,

I seem to recall an article in CACM where someone tried passing random
parameters to UNIX system calls.  They were able to make some kernels crash
quite easily.  Certainly the Mac is much worse in this regard, but UNIX is
not perfect.

>        - C, and C++, are not "safe" languages.  Yes, they are popular.

C++ is quite a bit safer than C, and I think it's as safe as Pascal.  (At
least something like MPW Pascal where you can do various casts, etc.)  MPW
C++ may not catch as many errors as it should, but that's a compiler
problem, not a language problem.

>        - The use of "trap patching" results in interdependencies
> 	 between programs which continually cause problems.  The
>          whole "system extensions" concept is flawed.  Interdependency

The problem is that INIT-writers don't appreciate the fact that any trap
patch becomes part of the system software.  People call upon Apple to solve
this problem, but I don't think there's any solution, other than to
restrict extensions to using hooks that Apple has defined.  (But then you
have to give up things like a hierarchical Apple menu.)

Larry Rosenstein
Taligent, Inc.

lsr@taligent.com