4 ms·

I think that is the key notion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system Handling resources isn't the def

I think that is the key notion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system Handling resources isn't the definition of an OS. Also asking "what is art?" is not the same as asking "what is an operating system?" Art covers just about all human activity, the definition is extremely wide. I wouldn't say an OS has a definition that wide.

sandworm101 8y ago
>> Handling resources isn't the definition of an OS. Well, it certainly is part of the definition of a useful OS. A car doesn't have to be able to turn right. It is still a car, just not a useful one.
Retric 8y ago
Early operating systems only had one program run at a time.
- stcredzero 8y ago
  What if that one program is a Virtual Machine interpreting bytecodes for a language like Lisp or Smalltalk? From one point of view, only one program is running on the hardware, however many Smalltalk 'Processes' (really, cooperative green threads) could be running simultaneously. This was once the case for Smalltalk. It may have been the case for Lisp machines.
Stratoscope 8y ago
Providing services to other programs is indeed the key notion. I learned to program on an SDS Sigma 5. [1] The machine booted by reading the first card in the reader and executing the instructions punched on that card. The card could be a boot loader to start the BTM (Batch Timesharing Monitor) operating system from disk. Or the card could be a little program all of its own. A particularly useful one-card program was a card deck printer. You would put it at the front of the deck and boot the machine. This card had a simple loop to read the next card into memory, then print that line on the printer, and repeat until the card reader was empty. (One of my first optimization adventures was modifying the code to be double-buffered: read the next card into memory while the previous card is printing. Twice as fast!) That card certainly handled resources, but no one called it an OS. It didn't manage and provide services to other programs, it was just a one card program. Another popular one card program was the bird chirp card. It pulsed the front panel speaker to make it sound like birds were chirping. We didn't think of that as an operating system either. :-) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDS_Sigma_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDS_Sigma_series

sandworm101 8y ago

>> Handling resources isn't the definition of an OS. Well, it certainly is part of the definition of a useful OS. A car doesn't have to be able to turn right. It is still a car, just not a useful one.

Retric 8y ago

Early operating systems only had one program run at a time.

stcredzero 8y ago
What if that one program is a Virtual Machine interpreting bytecodes for a language like Lisp or Smalltalk? From one point of view, only one program is running on the hardware, however many Smalltalk 'Processes' (really, cooperative green threads) could be running simultaneously. This was once the case for Smalltalk. It may have been the case for Lisp machines.

Stratoscope 8y ago

Providing services to other programs is indeed the key notion. I learned to program on an SDS Sigma 5. [1] The machine booted by reading the first card in the reader and executing the instructions punched on that card. The card could be a boot loader to start the BTM (Batch Timesharing Monitor) operating system from disk. Or the card could be a little program all of its own. A particularly useful one-card program was a card deck printer. You would put it at the front of the deck and boot the machine. This card had a simple loop to read the next card into memory, then print that line on the printer, and repeat until the card reader was empty. (One of my first optimization adventures was modifying the code to be double-buffered: read the next card into memory while the previous card is printing. Twice as fast!) That card certainly handled resources, but no one called it an OS. It didn't manage and provide services to other programs, it was just a one card program. Another popular one card program was the bird chirp card. It pulsed the front panel speaker to make it sound like birds were chirping. We didn't think of that as an operating system either. :-) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDS_Sigma_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDS_Sigma_series