[cap-talk] Objects and Facets, the Hurd and capabilities

[Karp, Alan H]

Jed wrote:
>          Is that compiler an "object"?  In capability 
> parlance it seems
> to me it is, though of course it's also a program combined with some
> sort of active server.
> 
Recapitulating an old Client Utility/E-speak argument.  Originally, we
said "Everything is a resource.", but people took that to be only
passive things, such as files.  Later on we said "Everything is a
service.", but people took that to be active only things, such as the
compiler in your example.  

In our system, it didn't matter because we treated active and passive
things the same way.  The same is true with object capabilities.  That's
because the message always goes to an active entity, whether we think of
it that way or not.  Invoking a write capability on a file sends a
message to an object that transforms the file.  Invoking a compile
capability sends a message to an object that tranforms the input.  The
only difference is a perception that a file is passive and a compiler is
active.

_________________________
Alan Karp
Principal Scientist
Virus Safe Computing Initiative
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories 
1501 Page Mill Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304
(650) 857-3967, fax (650) 857-7029
https://ecardfile.com/id/Alan_Karp
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Alan_Karp/
  
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