From owner-freebsd-questions Tue Aug 15 11:55: 1 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mail.bezeqint.net (mail-a.bezeqint.net [192.115.106.23]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1591537B6D7 for ; Tue, 15 Aug 2000 11:54:50 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from nimrodm@bezeqint.net) Received: from bsd.net.il (bzq-168-226.bezeqint.net) by mail.bezeqint.net (Sun Internet Mail Server sims.3.5.2000.03.23.18.03.p10) with ESMTP id <0FZC003IQKGM8T@mail.bezeqint.net> for questions@FreeBSD.ORG; Tue, 15 Aug 2000 21:53:10 +0300 (IDT) Received: (from nimrodm@localhost) by bsd.net.il (8.9.3/8.9.3) id VAA30555 for questions@FreeBSD.ORG; Tue, 15 Aug 2000 21:47:18 +0300 (IDT envelope-from nimrodm) Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 21:47:18 +0300 From: Nimrod Mesika Subject: Re: why c? In-reply-to: ; from unixboy007@hotmail.com on Tue, Aug 15, 2000 at 01:42:48PM -0400 To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Reply-To: nimrodm@email.com Message-id: <20000815214718.A855@localhost.bsd.net.il> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-disposition: inline Mail-Followup-To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG User-Agent: Mutt/1.2i References: Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Tue, Aug 15, 2000 at 01:42:48PM -0400, t g wrote: > programming classes and all but one of them used c++. so, my question is, > why is everything written in c? is it simply because unix was written > before c++, or is c better for an os? C is more low-level. You get what you write. C++ gets you further away from the hardware (adds virtual method table pointers, etc.) As Operating Systems are basically a device driver for the hardware C may be more natural (and still people sometimes use assembly). Of course, that doesn't mean you *can't* do it in C++. See for example Fiasco (an L4 compatible microkernel written in C++). > i'm also interested in a good book on programming operating system if anyone > has a recommendation (doesn't have to be geared toward unix). I still have my Tanenbaum's "Operating Systems - Design and Implementation" (the MINIX book), but I guess it's a bit outdated. Check the FAQ of comp.os.research for better suggestions (you can get it at rtfm.mit.edu). -- Nimrod. http://www.geocities.com/rodd_27 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message