TOPS-20

From: Daniel A. Seagraves <DSEAGRAV_at_toad.xkl.com>
Date: Mon Oct 19 09:53:09 1998

[Why is TOPS-20 so much better than Unix?]

Umm... It runs on a PDP-10?

Seriously, now, I like the idea of being able to DETACH CONTINUE something,
log in from elsewhere, re-attach my job, and continue without stopping the
job (Unless is tries to do TTY I/O, then it has to wait). And, Unix doesn't
have ^T. This gets Status. If you think your program has hung or something,
pressing ^T does a line like this:
07:49:28 MM IO wait at .TEXT1+17 Used 0:00:21.8 in 2:34:21, Load 0.80
(I just pressed ^T into MM and retyped what it printed)
This means that MM is waiting on I/O at .TEXT1+17 (which is a label defined
in the program. If you wrote the program, this is significant.)
You also get the used CPU and connect times, and the system load.
Unix doesn't do this, and I wish it did...
Also, if you suddenly decide you want to go poke at your program's interior,
you and ^C^C it and say DDT, and (provided you know how to operate DDT) it
will snag the program you just stopped and let you play with it. Or, if you
do this accidentally, you can say CONTINUE and it will go along like
nothing happened.

Various other nice things too...
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Received on Mon Oct 19 1998 - 09:53:09 BST