Re: [BLACKBOX] Seasoned Linux.

From: Douglas G. Danforth <"Douglas>
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2011 15:54:23 -0800

----boundary-LibPST-iamunique-65848275_-_- Content-type: text/plain On 1/4/2011 3:38 PM, Rex Couture wrote: I've been wondering when this discussion would take place. My impression is that the kernel is probably pretty good, through a combination of careful attention and brute force. Many of the applications, on the other hand, tend to crash. Is there any logical possibility of automatically converting C code, and possibly even the GNU/Linux base, to CP or Oberon-2? The cost of developing widely used operating system seems to be outrageous because the world seems to require overly numerous and complicated capabilities. On the other hand, I wonder if the cost of automated porting, and thereby improving the code, would be reasonable, or at least more reasonable. We know that Oberon code can be translated into C. The reverse is more difficult, to be sure, but is it not possible? There are some obvious technical obstacles, but could the required typing, etc. be supplied by an automated procedure? Surely it's theoretically possible because the required information is present. Of course, any programming errors that are discovered during compilation might have to be fixed by hand. Is this worth consideration or is it completely foolish? Rex Couture Many issues here. Does one have access to all the source code (including libraries)? Is a datum used in multiple ways, i.e. sometimes as char, sometimes as bits, etc (like the common blocks in Fortran)? Does one really know the intended type of a construct? ... I would love to see an automated converter from C to Oberon-2. If it is doable then I would assume it would be written in Coco. -Doug Danforth ---- To unsubscribe, send a message with body "SIGNOFF BLACKBOX" to LISTSERV{([at]})nowhere.xy ----boundary-LibPST-iamunique-65848275_-_- Content-type: application/rtf Content-transfer-encoding: base64 Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="rtf-body.rtf" e1xydGYxXGFuc2lcYW5zaWNwZzEyNTJcZnJvbWh0bWwxIFxkZWZmMHtcZm9udHRibA0Ke1xmMFxm c3dpc3MgQXJpYWw7fQ0Ke1xmMVxmbW9kZXJuIENvdXJpZXIgTmV3O30NCntcZjJcZm5pbFxmY2hh cnNldDIgU3ltYm9sO30NCntcZjNcZm1vZGVyblxmY2hhcnNldDAgQ291cmllciBOZXc7fX0NCntc Y29sb3J0YmxccmVkMFxncmVlbjBcYmx1ZTA7XHJlZDBcZ3JlZW4wXGJsdWUyNTU7fQ0KXHVjMVxw YXJkXHBsYWluXGRlZnRhYjM2MCBcZjBcZnMyNCANCntcKlxodG1sdGFnMjQzIDwhRE9DVFlQRSBI VE1MIFBVQkxJQyAiLS8vVzNDLy9EVEQgSFRNTCA0LjAxIFRyYW5zaXRpb25hbC8vRU4iPn0NCntc KlxodG1sdGFnMyBccGFyIH0NCntcKlxodG1sdGFnMTkgPGh0bWw+fQ0Ke1wqXGh0bWx0YWcyIFxw YXIgfQ0Ke1wqXGh0bWx0YWcyNDIgICB9DQp7XCpcaHRtbHRhZzM0IDxoZWFkPn0NCntcKlxodG1s 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