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I noticed that the expression "Systems Programming" now seems to mean a much higher level that it used to. In my mind, writing a web server is still an "applica
by alexk7 15y ago
I noticed that the expression "Systems Programming" now seems to mean a much higher level that it used to. In my mind, writing a web server is still an "application" and is not equivalent to, for example, writing an operating system. The Go language is also claiming to be a "Systems Programming Language" but I won't use it for what I call "Systems Programming"...
- icey 15y agoWhat do you call "Systems Programming"? (I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but you haven't provided a definition of what you consider systems programming.)
- joshhart 15y agoI'm not the parent, but I usually consider anything requiring fairly intimate knowledge of the hardware and operating system "systems programming", such as writing a database. Others seem to refer to it as anything that could be considered part of the OS, like writing drivers.
- alexk7 15y ago"anything requiring fairly intimate knowledge of the hardware and operating system" is a fine definition.
- scott_s 15y agoSome systems programming is writing applications. But they are applications that have intimate knowledge of the system. For example, the shell is a user-land application, but I clearly put implementing it under the "systems programming" label. Same with implementing a webserver.
- _delirium 15y agoI'm pretty sure Go at least aspires to "systems programming" in the classic sense, since its designers include some Unix and Plan9 veterans. Whether they'll succeed or not is another question, but they do seem to have a genuine C replacement in mind.