| |
 |
Friday, January 24, 2003 |
TinyCLR - What if the CLR was the OS?
I've thought before about what it would be like to build a bootable managed platform. Rather than having the whole CLR run in user mode make the EE be the OS. Unmanaged code would be like "Kernel mode" and managed code would be like "User Mode. An article at WinInformant makes me think MS is close to basically doing just this on SPOT devices:
I've incorrectly reported that SPOT devices are using a version of Windows CE .NET, but Microsoft tells me this isn't the case. Instead, SPOT-based devices are built on a completely new computing infrastructure developed from scratch at Microsoft Research, the company says. "This new platform extends .NET tools and architecture to the smallest devices and is modeled after the desktop version of CLR (but highly optimized for small devices). The TinyCLR includes a real-time microkernel. In order to bring a true value proposition to consumers, Microsoft needed to look at new technology solutions--a new platform, new software and new hardware--to specifically address power requirements, greater miniaturization, and an excellent UI, all at a price that makes it feasible to develop consumer devices." Sorry about the confusion.
Sounds interesting - I sure would like to hear more about this "TinyCLR". (Thanks to Brian Randell for pointing this out).
6:52:57 PM 
|
|
Great mysteries of the CLI
Why does the CLI name the base class meaning "I don't want to be Garbage-Collected" System.ValueType and then name the one meaning "I want to be remotable" System.MarshalByRefObject?
Also - why is [Serializable] an attribute while MarshalByRefObject is a base class? The arguments I've heard are pretty weak. As Mike Woodring points out, deriving from MBRO means inlining of methods has to be disabled. And who derives from MBRO? EVERY SINGLE class in the Winforms hierarchy.
Discuss.
*Update - Ingo provides some insight into mystery #2. I'm still not convinced that making all of Winforms derive from MarshalByRefObject is a particularly great feature...
12:34:31 PM
|
|
The chicks dig us, too
Here's ([left to right] Peter Drayton, me, and Ted Neward hanging out for beers the other night. As you can see, Ted has a massive crush on Peter:
Picture taken by David Weller (who has another photo and some vicious slander on his site). David accussed Ted and me of doing everything together, and took a second photo to prove it. Note to self - do not drink beer with David Weller...
1:37:54 AM
|
|
Stu Halloway & Justin Gehtland
Two DevelopMentor kin have new blogs up: Stuart Halloway and Justin Gehtland. Stu and I joined DevelopMentor as COM wonks the same week almost five years ago. Stu defected to Java, wrote a book, and is now CTO at DevelopMentor. (I, meanwhile continue to atrophy in the COM/.NET world :) ). I see that Stu got sucked into the ".NET versus Java" vortex and put up some of the most insightful posts on the topic that I've seen anywhere. Justin also co-wrote a book and is now busy fitting shoes to the cobbler's children (he's leading an internal team revamping DevelopMentor's oft-neglected internal systems using technologies like TWiki). Both of them are probably smarter than me.- enjoy their blogs.
1:21:26 AM
|
|
© Copyright 2003 Jason Whittington.
|
|
