Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 23rd Sep 2008 15:38 UTC
"Since its release a few weeks ago, curious developers have been sniffing through the source code for Google's new Chrome web browser. Chrome's source is interesting for a variety of reasons: there's the new V8 JavaScript virtual machine with its boasts of near-native code performance, the WebKit rendering engine that does all the hard work of understanding and displaying web pages, and (last but not least), Chrome's secure sandbox designed to minimize the impact of any security flaws that might exist in both the browser and plugins alike. It is this secure sandbox that has piqued the curiosity of some observers, and for a reason that many may find surprising. From reading the source, it looks as though Google has reverse-engineered Windows, and that's explicitly prohibited by the Windows EULA."
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RE[5]: Let the OS wars Begin!
by sbergman27 on Tue 23rd Sep 2008 23:11
in reply to "RE[4]: Let the OS wars Begin!"
Member since:2005-07-24
uhm, no sorry. linux (kernel wise) is not backwards compatible in any way. the kernel interface even changes between minor versions.
You are confusing the internal API (which is used by drivers and other kernel code) with the user space API. Research the matter and you will see that I am right. In fact, it is because so many people hold the same misconception that I took care to clarify the matter. Otherwise I would not have bothered.
If you still disagree, please point out a specific example for us to examine.
Edited 2008-09-23 23:13 UTC
RE[6]: Let the OS wars Begin!
by renhoek on Thu 25th Sep 2008 23:39
in reply to "RE[5]: Let the OS wars Begin!"
Member since:2007-04-29
a long time ago i looked at a webcam driver. to see for yourself take a look at :
http://alpha.dyndns.org/ov511/download/ov51x/ov51x-1.65-1.12-mark/o... . This is what i meant with the linux (KERNEL WISE) not being backwards compatible. The internals drastically changed, and it shows. freebsd has for example ABI binary backwards compatibility for the major releases. you have to also specifically enable this. i could not find such a thing for linux.
and as for the kernel api : i also highly doubt libc for linux 1.0 also runs on linux 2.6, but it might be possible. when using binary backwards compatibility the structures you give to the kernel can not change. i highly doubt linus did this.
as a simple test i took siginfo.h and checked if it changed between 2.4 and 2.6 and it did. the siginfo structure is NOT binary backwards compatible. changing int's to longs makes a lot of difference. it not even source level compatible. and this is the first file with the first large strucure i could find which is used by a the kernel api (the sys_* calls). maybe i'll not allowed to use the variables deeper in the structure. but guess what, it's not documented and linux always tells me to read the source.
could you maybe point out somewhere where linus states he preserves backwards compatibility? i couln't find it.
please note that binary backwards compatibility is also about supporting code relying on bugs and stuff "you are not supposed to do". so if it runs on linux 2.4 it must also run on a newer version, no matter what.
i have to admit the kernel api is small and more backwards compatible than i expected. i'll give you that one 
Linux backwards compatibility
by Pfeifer on Wed 24th Sep 2008 13:04
in reply to "RE[4]: Let the OS wars Begin!"
Member since:2006-02-20
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 7:37 UTC
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Linked by fran on 05/18/13 1:38 UTC
Google added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 23:35 UTC, submitted by kragil
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
Linked by MOS6510 on 05/17/13 22:22 UTC
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 22:15 UTC, submitted by Tom
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 21:41 UTC
Glass is getting some love at Google I/O as well. New applications have been released - Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Elle, Tumblr, and CNN. Perhaps more interesting: the newly announced Google Glass Developer Kit will allow offline applications and direct hardware access - great for hacking and expanding Glass' potential. This kit will really allow hackers to put Glass through its paces.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 17:04 UTC
"But Beck and Merrill decided that simply banning toxic players wasn't an acceptable solution for their game. Riot Games began experimenting with more constructive modes of player management through a formal player behavior initiative that actually conducts controlled experiments on its player base to see what helps reduce bad behavior. The results of that initiative have been shared at a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on panels at the Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developers Conference." Absolutely fascinating stuff. I'm a League of Legends player, and to be honest, the community isn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. I'm happy Riot games has the guts to employ science to address the issue.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 13:17 UTC
"Android and iOS, the number one and number two ranked smartphone operating systems worldwide, combined for 92.3% of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013 as Windows Phone crept past BlackBerry for 3rd place. According to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android smartphone vendors and Apple shipped a total of 199.5 million units worldwide during 1Q13, up 59.1% from the 125.4 million units shipped during 1Q12." Windows Phone doubles from a few to twice few, iOS loser market share as its growth is slower than that of the overall market. BlackBerry continues slide into irrelevance.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 12:06 UTC
"According to the latest research from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies service, global Android smartphone profits reached US$5 billion in total during the first quarter of 2013. Samsung dominated and captured an impressive 95 percent share of all Android smartphone profits." Wow.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/15/13 23:03 UTC
"During its Keynote today, Google announced new features coming to its flagship search function - you know, that thing we all started using Google for. VP Amit Singhal spent some time discussing what Google's search functionality will eventually morph into. Google's strategy is summarized by three words: answer, converse, and anticipate. Singhal explained that many of the pieces of these upcoming changes can already be seen in products that Google has recently introduced - namely, Google Knowledge Graph and Google Now, with perhaps a splash of Google Glass, too." I hold on to my hat every time Google changes Search. It's such a vital product in my daily life.More News »
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Member since:
2007-04-29
uhm, no sorry. linux (kernel wise) is not backwards compatible in any way. the kernel interface even changes between minor versions. this does not really matter since all drivers are included in the kernel anyway.
libc/gtk/qt/x11 and stuff like that are quite stable and properly versioned.
but more on topic. the first time i experienced windows undocumented calls was with emm, somehow windows was able to take over emm but i was not. sucks to be the one left out.