From: jm Date: 2005-08-19T09:14:51+09:00 Subject: Re: Object based administrative shell On 18/08/2005, at 7:33 PM, Reyn Vlietstra wrote: > > jm, the very simple commands included in my previous post are: > > Thanks for the examples. I'll also have to take a look at the wiki you've put up as well. It's interesting to see this concept being developed by someone. I was just think the other day what sort of language would be able to cover the full spectrum from command,shell, to application,OS developement. As shown in the follow diagram be fore warned that there's a bit of hand waving and hair split as the left side of the diagram is exploded compared to the right. <-------------------------------------------------- ..... -----------> | | | | | command shell shell script application script OS kernel command is things like "run this now", eg, edit file.txt shell is where you can start chaining of commands, eg, grep file.txt "^A" | cut -c 10-15 ... shell script include start up scripts etc. application scripts are things which are more involved like dynamic web sites, data manipulation, etc. full applications (not shown) would be things like konqueror or openoffice. and the far right we all now what an OS kernel is. The point is that a language that fills more of these niches is more likely to survive long term than one that one that only fills a specific niche. From the lower end, there are contenders like c/c++ but these don't move very well towards the command end of the spectrum. In the middle there is java which is trying to push towards the left of the diagram and rightward with things like javacard, etc. Then there's the "scripting languages" like ruby. Ruby started in the "application script" area and is pushing downwards with the help of the needed speed increase from yarv, but it still lacks the features to let it move any lower in that direction. In the other direction, it is being used by heretix (www.h-e-r-e-t-i-x.org) for start up scripts and OS administration, which I'm sure a few people have already been doing on an ad hoc basis. Projects like yours should then move ruby even futher towards to command/shell side of the spectrum. The "winner" in one respect will be the language which makes this a smooth continuation rather than the bumpy road that it currently is at the moment. Jeff.