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Programming Languages Will Become OSes

Posted by michael on from the i-run-perl-OS-5 dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "A couple of months ago, at the Lightweight Languages Workshop 2002, Matthew Flat made a premise in his talk: Operating systems and programming languages are the same thing (at least 'mathematically speaking'). I find this interesting and has a lot of truth in it. Both OS and PL are platforms on which other programs run. Both are virtualizing machines. Both make it easier for people to write applications (by providing API, abstractions, frameworks, etc.)"

5 of 456 comments (clear)

  1. Programming languages become OSes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Already happened: Microsoft BASIC ==> Microsoft Windows

  2. Oberon anybody? by sofist · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just remember the past. Oberon was an OS an a PL at the same time and I think most of the readers didn't ever heard about it...

  3. Re:Use Emacs by SquadBoy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yea but you would have to port VIM to get a *good* editor.

    --

    Cypherpunks: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics. Those who live by the sword die by the arrow.
  4. Re:Use Emacs by bperkins · · Score: 5, Funny

    Found in someone's sig file:

    Emacs: It's a nice OS, but to compete with
    Linux or Windows it needs a better text
    editor. - Alexander Duscheleit

  5. Re:Smalltalk as OS by tpr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It so happens that I know a bit about Smalltalk so perhaps I can help a little.
    Smalltalk was originally the entire system on the original hardware. Indeed, Dan Ingalls said back then (paraphrasing, I don't have the exact quote handy) "An operating system is a collection of things that don't fit into a programming language. There shouldn't be one".
    The reality of commercial machines caused those of us interested in using Smalltalk to accept the limitations (and it must be said, benefits) of OSs. Even so, there have been several occasions where an attempt has be made to use Smalltalk as the entire system: the Active Book and the Momenta machines for example and more recently the Interval Research MediaPad (where the RTOS was written in Smalltalk).

    These days I'd be inclined to 'soften' Dan's statement to something like "An OS is a collection of things underneath the language. There shouldn't be any way to tell the difference". That is to say, the language ought to be able to make full use of anything available without having to burden the programmer with wierd crap.