4 ms·

While I disagree with the premise that an OS must be written with a non-C language and then become popular for that language to replace C, I absolutely think wr

While I disagree with the premise that an OS must be written with a non-C language and then become popular for that language to replace C, I absolutely think writing an OS is a litmus test for any language. It's entirely possible for another language, any language, to become more popular than C even if the OS hosting that language's runtime is itself written in C. Hell, according to some sources [1], Java's already there. However, for a language to replace C, to truly uproot C, I absolutely agree it must be fast and flexible enough for one to write an OS that is comparable or superior to peer OSs written in C. As I've heard from some sources, C# and the .NET runtime may excellent examples of an environment that fell short – Longhorn reputedly was attempted in C# and MS had to fall back to C for performance and reliability reasons. [Edit: My info on Longhorn's bad, per neilc, below.] [1] http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index....

neilc 15y ago
Longhorn reputedly was attempted in C# and MS had to fall back to C for performance and reliability reasons. That is not the case, as far as I know (see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Windows_Vista http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Windows_Vista). MS have written at least one OS on top of the CLR -- Singularity. Very cool stuff, albeit a research system.
- ryannielsen 15y ago
  Ah, good citation. I hedged my statement for a reason. :-) Singularity is indeed fascinating, but it does remain a research OS. I hope something like it finally comes to light in a future release.
  - Splines 15y ago
    I do too, but considering the herculean task that this would be, I doubt the Windows org would ever consider it. WP7 might have been a good breeding ground for such technology, but even that never managed to shake off it's own legacy OS underpinnings.

neilc 15y ago

Longhorn reputedly was attempted in C# and MS had to fall back to C for performance and reliability reasons. That is not the case, as far as I know (see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Windows_Vista http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Windows_Vista). MS have written at least one OS on top of the CLR -- Singularity. Very cool stuff, albeit a research system.

ryannielsen 15y ago
Ah, good citation. I hedged my statement for a reason. :-) Singularity is indeed fascinating, but it does remain a research OS. I hope something like it finally comes to light in a future release.
- Splines 15y ago
  I do too, but considering the herculean task that this would be, I doubt the Windows org would ever consider it. WP7 might have been a good breeding ground for such technology, but even that never managed to shake off it's own legacy OS underpinnings.