lkml.org 
[lkml]   [1997]   [Jan]   [25]   [last100]   RSS Feed
Views: [wrap][no wrap]   [headers]  [forward] 
 
Messages in this thread
/
Date
From
Subject[offtopic] Re: If Linux is to succeed

On Sat, 25 Jan 1997, W. Reilly Cooley wrote:

> On Sat, 25 Jan 1997, Ingo Molnar wrote:
>
> > most Microsoft APIs are >largely< redundant. Say i've counted 1500
> > different API calls in windows.h ... and that doesnt include new bloat
> > like ActiveX, 3D stuff and the networking nightmare called Netbeui and SMB
> > over TCP.
> >
> > Compare this with the 167 Linux system calls.
>
> You, however, are neglecting that the many Windows API calls are for
> graphical manipulation, e.g., InvalidateRect(), MsgBox(), and
> ShowWindow(). For this to be an accurate comparison you'd also have to
> include the Xlib and perhaps also X Toolkit calls.

pc5829:/usr/X11R6/man/man3$ grep -l 'XLIB FUNCTIONS' * | wc -l
181
pc5829:/usr/X11R6/man/man3$ grep -l 'XT FUNCTIONS' * | wc -l
95

181+95 calls.

But i kindof disagree to talk about X as an OS issue. And X isnt a moving
target. 5 years old X code runs just fine. Can you run 5 years old Windows
code on NT, without destabilizing the system? Not to talk about
performance and usability.

> I think perhaps you are missing the point about supporting the Windows
> APIs and such. [...]

i'm just saying that it costs too much, on the developer side. IMHO, lets
rather put energy into making better features, than putting energy into
upgrading to a newer API and a newer API and a newer API. The amount spent
on software doesnt change. But it's up to you where do you put the
resources.

-- mingo



\
 
 \ /
  Last update: 2005-03-22 13:38    [W:0.055 / U:22.064 seconds]
©2003-2020 Jasper Spaans|hosted at Digital Ocean and TransIP|Read the blog|Advertise on this site