Confusing The Deputy (was: Split Capabilities: Making Capabilities Scale)

[Mark S. Miller]

At 07:12 PM 7/8/00 , Jonathan S. Shapiro wrote:
>I agree that this one is real important, but I would personally rather see
>this discussion framed in terms of principles:
>...
>I view the "confused deputy" as one anecdote in a large space that
>illustrates why these principles matter.
>
>We should try to enumerate this principles list. I have tried on several
>occasions with limited success. 


           "The world is built of systems.  People understand stories."
                                                                      --Alan Kay

Sure, a principles list would be great, and we should work on developing one 
and framing issues in terms of it.  But both are useful.  These 
anecdotes can be *very* powerful indicators of what principles we need to 
state.  When I heard the confused deputy story I instantly got an intuitive 
grasp of a few of the principles that it teaches, but thought that I'd 
understood the whole thing.  It took me many years to realize that the tale 
had many more lessons than I'd first appreciated, and to tease out explicit 
statements of what these lessons are.  I hope my previous message is a 
useful start at sharing these.  At this point I have less confidence than I 
ever did that I've exhausted the principles taught by this simple tale.

If you have other such anecdotes, please share them.  They may also point to 
important principles it takes us years to make explicit.

>I suspect there are differences between the
>E list and the EROS/KeyKOS list, and that these would be interesting to
>explore together.

Sure.  Do you have a process in mind?


         Cheers,
         --MarkM