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From a sufficiently abstract point of view, one could argue that classic DBMSs are already looking like small operating systems: - are composed of multiple pro
by rzzzt 7y ago
From a sufficiently abstract point of view, one could argue that classic DBMSs are already looking like small operating systems:
- are composed of multiple processes; can include process management code
- can access hardware directly (for efficient arrangement, caching and retrieval of data)
- include support for multiple users, concurrent sessions
- stored procedures require compiler tooling and runtime (VM)
- can be platform-independent, with an abstraction layer connecting them to the underlying OS
- nickpsecurity 7y agoA lot of things are starting to work like operating systems for performance and/or security reasons. We might need to eliminate the distinction in our thinking to get better results on new systems. Quite a few programmers and researchers already have, making things like you describe. Others are building from hardware up to try to make their implementations more 1-to-1 with how hardware works.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- goatinaboat 7y agoYes this has been true of major RDBMS for a long time. A conventional OS bootstraps Oracle (for example) and Oracle handles its own memory management, process scheduling, IPC, talks directly to storage, handles logins and interactive use, etc etc. Same with SQL Server. The AS/400 takes it to the extreme.
- fouc 7y agoYou raise a point - we have a bunch of small operating systems running on top of our existing operating systems. DBMSes, editors (emacs), browsers, and more. There's a great amount of inefficiences being added because everyone is re-inventing OSes and/or DBMSes at every layer.
- asdfman123 7y agoI often wonder how much more efficient computers would be if we were capable of writing optimal machine code for whatever task we wanted to accomplish. No layers, just efficient code written at the lowest level for everything. It obviously wouldn't be worth the effort, but how many times faster would our computers be?
- fouc 7y agoI think it'd be possible to automate that at some level, generatively code just the minimum needed at the machine level for the task, and no extra fluff.