Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
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From: john@spectre.unm.edu (John Prentice)
Subject: Re: Compilation listing from Sun F77
References: <KHB.91Jun10160213@chiba.Eng.Sun.COM> <1991Jun10.234931.5147@ariel.unm.edu> <KHB.91Jun10220038@chiba.Eng.Sun.COM>
Organization: Dept. of Math & Stat, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Message-ID: <1991Jun11.100327.2529@ariel.unm.edu>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 91 10:03:27 GMT
Lines: 39

In article <KHB.91Jun10220038@chiba.Eng.Sun.COM> khb@chiba.Eng.Sun.COM (Keith Bierman fpgroup) writes:
>
>   an operating system for people who grove on lots of little utilities).
>
>Yes. It's proponents count that as a feature (combined with the usual
>arguments about the joys of shells, piping, and empowering programmers
>to build what they want).
>
>I don't happen to subscribe to such ideals, for whatever that's worth.
>

I have to agree with Keith here, I don't care much for the UNIX approach
to little utilities either.  Coming from either the supercomputer or PC
worlds, I feel like I have taken a giant step into the past everytime I
encounter UNIX.  This must have been a hot operating system in the early
70's, but it leaves alot to be desired as a modern operating system.  
Looking at it from the supercomputer perspective, it is just not as 
efficient as other operating systems like CTSS.  It is also less
functional as a rule.  All I can say UNIX has over CTSS is standardized
mediocrity.  Comparing it to PC's, UNIX as an operating system is
certainly an improvement over MS-DOS, but the utilities are a bloody
joke.  The word processor on my old XT is better than almost anything
I can get on UNIX (this is slowly changing.  Now if only OpenWindows
could manage to keep a window up reliably!).  This old UNIX hacker
philosophy of small utilties is in my opinion an anachronism, more
appropiate to the small memory slow machines of the past than to the
modern workstation or supercomputer.  I would dearly love to see it
discarded.  Along those lines, I would love to see Fortran compilers
which provide all the features that I now have to run half a dozen UNIX
utilities to get.  I get them on the Cray, I wish I could get them on
the more user friendly (or at least less expensive) environment of my
workstation.  Arghhh....

John

-- 
John K. Prentice    john@spectre.unm.edu (Internet)
Computational Physics Group
Amparo Corporation, Albuquerque, NM
