On 4 Oct 2002 at 8:54, John Burke wrote:

> Why is MPE source in such a mess? For an organization that made its
> reputation on quality hardware and software, it seems strange that the
> OS would be such a kludge.

I don't think I'd really classify it in that context. What makes it a
bear to work with is that it is a very complicated piece of software
that grew out of different organizations at different times. For
example, the kernel came out of one lab, networking came from another
and the databases from another and languages from yet another. Each
had their own development and build environments that were custom
developed for their own use.

Even so, you're talking about millions of lines of very sophisticated
code. It is maintainable and of high enough quality that you do get
the vaunted performance and reliability everyone comes to expect. I
wouldn't call it a "mess" for that.

Regards,


M.

--
Mark Klein
http://www.dis.com
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