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The definition of DSL is vague, but at least in some sense, some operating systems do implement such a DSL. For Windows between 2000 and 7, that would be VBScr

The definition of DSL is vague, but at least in some sense, some operating systems do implement such a DSL. For Windows between 2000 and 7, that would be VBScript. The language itself is primitive, but through various COM APIs (WMI, ADSI, ADO, MSXML, WScript.Shell, etc.) one can do borderline anything with the OS, or even with the whole Windows networks. Modern Windows, while still supporting VBScript and most of these COM things, has also added PowerShell as another option.

abrax3141 4y ago
Is the OS itself written in VBScript? (You're going to make the fair complaint that it's hard to tell where the OS stops and something "non-OS" starts. And I get that. I'm guessing (because I don't work on Windows) that the folks who support the OS don't code, for the most part, in VB.)
- justincormack 4y ago
  The closest thing to a DSL for writing the OS was C for Unix. They were created alongside each other. There are more niche examples too like Oberon.
  - sargstuff 4y ago
    C was orignally a macros for assembly setup.
- Const-me 4y ago
  In 2000, the performance overhead was too large. PowerShell, and most of PS applets are written in C#. PowerShell is a lightweight scripting layer on top of the same .NET runtime. BTW, last couple times I dealt with Linux, I remember essential userland OS components implemented with bash scripts.
p_l 4y ago
It wasn't just VBScript - one could use any language that registered its interpreter with Windows Scripting Host, though VBScript was the most popular due to being one of the two options shipped with the OS (the other was JScript, a javascript implementation). I have at the very least seen WSH support in glory days of ActivePerl, I think ActivePython and ActiveTCL included that as well. There was also I think a REXX implementation available. Also, the same approach of using COM for everything is continued in PowerShell and generally all new Windows APIs - a lot of stuff in PowerShell is thin wrappers (if at all) over COM APIs, and you can definitely call custom COM objects as well.
- sargstuff 4y ago
  Windows post GUI on top of dos, was based on ported OS concept of vax/vms micocode. so dos & 'MS windows' each became a 'dsl' vm.

abrax3141 4y ago

Is the OS itself written in VBScript? (You're going to make the fair complaint that it's hard to tell where the OS stops and something "non-OS" starts. And I get that. I'm guessing (because I don't work on Windows) that the folks who support the OS don't code, for the most part, in VB.)

justincormack 4y ago
The closest thing to a DSL for writing the OS was C for Unix. They were created alongside each other. There are more niche examples too like Oberon.
- sargstuff 4y ago
  C was orignally a macros for assembly setup.
Const-me 4y ago
In 2000, the performance overhead was too large. PowerShell, and most of PS applets are written in C#. PowerShell is a lightweight scripting layer on top of the same .NET runtime. BTW, last couple times I dealt with Linux, I remember essential userland OS components implemented with bash scripts.

p_l 4y ago

It wasn't just VBScript - one could use any language that registered its interpreter with Windows Scripting Host, though VBScript was the most popular due to being one of the two options shipped with the OS (the other was JScript, a javascript implementation). I have at the very least seen WSH support in glory days of ActivePerl, I think ActivePython and ActiveTCL included that as well. There was also I think a REXX implementation available. Also, the same approach of using COM for everything is continued in PowerShell and generally all new Windows APIs - a lot of stuff in PowerShell is thin wrappers (if at all) over COM APIs, and you can definitely call custom COM objects as well.

sargstuff 4y ago
Windows post GUI on top of dos, was based on ported OS concept of vax/vms micocode. so dos & 'MS windows' each became a 'dsl' vm.