Namespaces, UI, etc.

[John C. Randolph]

Gentlemen,

I just came across an essay at

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/gelernter/gelernter_p1.html

by David Gelernter of Yale university, which got me thinking that for EROS  
to have any more impact than marginally increasing the performance and  
reliability of Linux and BSD, then there's more than one box that we need  
to think outside of!

The passages that jumped out at me were these:

>30. If you have three pet dogs, give them names. If you have 10,000 head  
of cattle, don't bother. Nowadays the idea of giving a name to every file  
on your computer is ridiculous.

and:

>32. You shouldn't have to put files in directories. The directories  
should reach out and take them. If a file belongs in six directories, all  
six should reach out and grab it automatically, simultaneously.

>33. A file should be allowed to have no name, one name or many names.  
Many files should be allowed to share one name. A file should be allowed to  
be in no directory, one directory, or many directories. Many files should  
be allowed to share one directory. Of these eight possibilities, only three  
are legal and the other five are banned — for no good reason.

I urge you all to read the essay.

-jcr

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