🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <9601272105.AA17852@dxmint.cern.ch>, Dan Pop
<danpop@mail.cern.ch> wrote:

    jragosta@dca.net (Joe Ragosta) writes:
    
    >In article <1996Jan26.192156@eigb>, luginbuh@eigb wrote:
    >
    >> It's not a real multitask. It's a cooperatly multitask. In this
mode you have
    >> a Windows 3.x platform running well with 4M, if you don't use last
Micro$oft
    >> memory eater products. Any way, new products will need more memory
to run,
    >> due to new features AND because it semms that as people get more
and more 
    >> memories on their computers programmers don't bother on code size.
    >
    >Apparently, you've swallowed the Microsoft FUD hook, line, and sinker.
    >
    >Repeat after me:
    >Multitasking means the ability for a computer to have two tasks executing
    >simultaneously (in the user's time frame--not in the computer's time
    >frame). 
    
    This is precisely the point.  MacOS doesn't have this ability, unless the
    applications are willing to cooperate.  The multitasking is built into the
    applications, not into MacOS.
    
    >There are two flavors: cooperative and preemptive. Both are multitasking.
    
    Who invented cooperative "multitasking"?
    
    >If you'd like to argue that preemptive multitasking is superior in some
    >way and have facts to support it, feel free. But your statement that MacOS
    >or Win3.1 don't multitask is just plain wrong.
    
    Is it?  Pray tell, how is MacOS multitasking the following "application":
    
    main() { for(;;); }
    
    An OS which cannot multitask it has no rights to claim to be multitasking,
    for the simple reason that it isn't.
    
    Yes, my example serves no useful purpose, but every experienced Mac user 
    has seen real applications freezing the Mac.
    
    Dan
    -- 
    Dan Pop
    CERN, CN Division
    Email: danpop@mail.cern.ch 
    Mail:  CERN - PPE, Bat. 31 R-004, CH-1211 Geneve 23, Switzerland


Unix, I my experience, is not immune from similar problems. Preemptive
multitasking just makes problems less likely and makes life easier for the
programmer. Also, I would point out that the task switching overhead for
both forms of multitasking is similar.

Tom