Greg Kroah-Hartman has put the slides and a transcript to his keynote at OLS online. The title speaks volumes: "Myths, Lies, and Truths about the Linux kernel". He starts off: "I'm going to discuss the a number of different lies that people always say about the kernel and try to debunk them; go over a few truths that aren't commonly known, and discuss some myths that I hear repeated a lot."
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Member since:2005-07-12
"Why have an API if it's going to change daily, just import the source directly and access it's member functions directly instead of through some kind of interface. "
Why indeed. The whole purpose of an API is a consistent interface, for other software, or sections of code, to interact with.
Just look at Java. It has, indeed, "evolved" quite nicely. It continues to add powerful features, and continues to be optimized and improved. Any issues with the speed (or lack there of) in which this happens can be attributed to the politics of the JSR. But the point is, Java is much better and full featured then it was in the early days, while still maintaining backwards compatibility, i.e., a stable API. But, alas, Java is fully an object oriented programming language.
Member since:2005-06-29
Crap! I guess you have never been involved in a project where APIs actually change. No matter how much forethought you put into your design, your first few attempts will almost always suck! Welcome to reality where the waterfall approach to software development is all but legend.
Member since:
2005-10-09
Thank you for taking what I said and putting it into better words, I'm too tired today.
Of course, you're correct. Call it what you will, whatever methodology, but the ENTIRE point of an API is to have a stable method for interfacing with the underlying architecture. Why have an API if it's going to change daily, just import the source directly and access it's member functions directly instead of through some kind of interface.
It's easy to abstract things and write a good API in C, it just takes effort and time in the design phase, as stated before this is NOT something the linux devs are known for spending much time on.