We all understand what data is/are. The singular form refers to an android on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The plural form refers to the stuff we put into computers in the hope of getting something useful out. Most companies are hard a work turning data into information. Few even believe there is a next step, yet in my view there are two more: knowledge and wisdom. How do we get there from here?
Despite several generations of rapid hardware advances since the 1960s, software has barely ambled through one generation. The classic description that the "Cobbler's children have no shoes" can be applied directly to programmers.
One paradoxical aspect of computers and software is that the process of writing software, -- the price/performance of programmers, if you will -- has gained much less in productivity, compared to the evolution of computers and hardware themselves. Last month, in Part I, I talked about why programmers' productivity has evolved much slower than hardware. Now, let's continue this examination and explore some ways to significantly improve matters.
"May you live in interesting times" was an ancient Chinese curse. By interesting times, they meant war, revolution, earthquake, famine, or similar class of events. While the year 2000 is not a disaster, for the computer industry it sure is interesting. And one thing that will be destroyed is a lot of preconceptions.
My prior column (April 24, 2000) discussed revolutionary developments in hardware. This column is about evolution in OSes. Like biological evolution, OS development responds to predators and explores new niches in the ecology of computer systems. The phrase, "think of it as evolution in action" comes from Oath of Fealty, a science-fiction novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Jerry is also Byte.com's lead columnist. (Oath of Fealty, published by Pocket Books, ISBN 0-671-82802-9).
WarpTech2000 (WT2K) was put on by POSSI, the Phoenix OS/2 Society. This three-day technical conference was held May 26- 28, 2000 at The Wigwam Resort, a five-star resort about 30 miles from Phoenix, Arizona. The conference was memorable for people, atmosphere, and content. A list of the sessions at warptech.org/WTSessions.html gives a picture of the range of topics this ambitious conference covered. From Remote Booting Alien Operating Systems under OS/2 to Connecting Databases to Java Applications, the sessions covered a broad range of technology and how to use it with OS/2.
Three months ago, I started a series on the revolution and evolution in our computer systems. In April, "Interesting Times Part I" covered the revolutionary changes in hardware this year. In May, Part II discussed the evolutionary changes in operating systems. Part III, wraps up this series with some observations and analysis about the evolution of application suites and the impact of those changes to business and individual users. I also look at the evolution in our environment and predict whether future suites will dominate the market.
Since May 1999, my column here in Byte.com has been titled "Utility Infielder. The name, taken from baseball's term for somebody who can play most positions, gave me wide latitude (and longitude) to write about subjects that didn't fit into other columns in Byte.com. Regular readers of Utility Infielder at Byte.com know I've written about OS/2, and some on other operating systems and OS-level issues. My column has also included everything from protecting aginst viruses and Year 2000 to "why is it hard to improve programmer productivity?" It was a challenge, and fun too, always something new coming around the corner. I enjoyed it, but of late had wondered about writing to a more specific focus.
One of the fun parts of spelunking around supercomputer sites is the discovery of new information or technology. This time around I started at The Cornell Theory Center and examined the various projects, eventually linking to Los Alamos National Labs (LANL), near the recent fire in New Mexico.
BSD, one of the two original variants of Unix, has been reborn without proprietary code into a basketball team of Unix operating systems. Like Linux, BSD follows the Unix philosophy for OS and environment. Unlike Linux, each version has significant differences from the others, following different paths of specialization. The BSD OSs also cover different ranges of processor architectures - from 3 for FreeBSD to more than 30 for NetBSD.
For anyone looking at or using Linux, one of the BSD versions may suit you better. This column gives an overview of the different versions with links for more information. In some cases it may be reasonable to move from a commercial Unix to one of the BSD versions for applications, lower costs or support. And for anyone interested in the state of operating systems, it's worth knowing where BSD fits in.
This column will introduce you to a classic OS - OpenVMS. Currently at release 7.3, VMS originated with the DEC Vax, a classic machine. the latest OpenVMS, Version 7.3, announced in October 2000, features clustering, data backup and improved disaster tolerance.
The recent Supercomputing 2000 show highlighted everything from very-high-end networking to super displays for data, and the new approach to distributed computing - Information Grids.
SC2000, the eleventh annual exposition of supercomputing technology, infrastructure and applications, held November 4 through 10 in the Dallas Convention Center, set new conference records for both computer and network performance. The scientific network is described here and includes a useful diagram.