At 07:25 PM 8/26/98 +1, you wrote:
>
>Cross platform development was an easy thing - write one
>application and let it run on PETs, Tandys, CPM/systems,
>of coure on APPLE ][s and even on IBM-PCs - oh, did someone
>say Java ? *grins*.
In theory. In practice, many P-System programs made calls to
platform-specific extensions to the language in question,
linking against a library of a dozen or so routines for doing
non-standard subroutines written in machine code: block
memory moves, disk block reads, etc. I don't think those
were ever standardized between platforms.
You can't take the average clone of Pacman or whatever from an
Apple II P-System and run it on another system unless it was
completely pure - poking video memory ain't pure.
As for Java, most backgrounders on its history are sure to
acknowledge the debt to the P-System, although it didn't really
take off. It was, of course, one of the three OSes offered
for the original IBM PC, along with PC-DOS and CP/M-86.
I can still run the circa 1984 Pecan version of the P-System
in a DOS window under WinNT.
See my web page for a history of the UCSD P-System. I'd love
to get a Microengine.
- John
Jefferson Computer Museum <
http://www.threedee.com/jcm>
Received on Wed Aug 26 1998 - 13:08:36 BST