For those unaware, the article hints at a system that really does believe everything is a file: Plan 9 from Bell Labs, the “second system”/spiritual successor of Unix. But it’s also worth pointing out that NT’s kernel is designed around a hierarchical namespace of “objects,” where various subsystems slot in at different levels to take over responsibility of the rest of the path. Unlike Plan 9, this is separate from the userland filesystem. It might be most familiar to people who have installed NT 4 (or maybe 3.51?) through XP via bootable floppy: SETUP.EXE shows strings like `\Device\HardDisk0` in the status bar.
Just pointing out how the same general idea can take distinct forms of implementation.
Careful selection also implies rejection. I wonder about the technologies that have been lost to time because they didn't pass this historical filter. I learned never to underestimate the accomplishments of our predecessors after reading about old mainframe systems.
For those unaware, the article hints at a system that really does believe everything is a file: Plan 9 from Bell Labs, the “second system”/spiritual successor of Unix. But it’s also worth pointing out that NT’s kernel is designed around a hierarchical namespace of “objects,” where various subsystems slot in at different levels to take over responsibility of the rest of the path. Unlike Plan 9, this is separate from the userland filesystem. It might be most familiar to people who have installed NT 4 (or maybe 3.51?) through XP via bootable floppy: SETUP.EXE shows strings like `\Device\HardDisk0` in the status bar.
Just pointing out how the same general idea can take distinct forms of implementation.
Careful selection also implies rejection. I wonder about the technologies that have been lost to time because they didn't pass this historical filter. I learned never to underestimate the accomplishments of our predecessors after reading about old mainframe systems.
This reminds me of the PLoPD series:
https://archive.org/details/patternlanguages0000unse
https://archive.org/details/patternlanguages0002unse
https://archive.org/details/patternlanguages0000unse_l3y0
Note that these books were written when design pattern was still a buzzword.