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| author | Taru Karttunen <taruti@taruti.net> | 2011-03-30 16:49:47 +0300 |
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| committer | Taru Karttunen <taruti@taruti.net> | 2011-03-30 16:49:47 +0300 |
| commit | b41b9034225ab3e49980d9de55c141011b6383b0 (patch) | |
| tree | 891014b4c2e803e01ac7a1fd2b60819fbc5a6e73 /sys/man/preface.html | |
| parent | c558a99e0be506a9abdf677f0ca4490644e05fc1 (diff) | |
Import sources from 2011-03-30 iso image - sys/man
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diff --git a/sys/man/preface.html b/sys/man/preface.html new file mode 100755 index 000000000..50d3619fc --- /dev/null +++ b/sys/man/preface.html @@ -0,0 +1,116 @@ +<html> +<title> +preface +</title> +<body BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#330088" ALINK="#FF0044"> +<H1>Preface to the Second (1995) Edition +</H1> +<P> +Plan 9 was born in the same lab where Unix began. +Old Unix hands will recognize the cultural heritage in this manual, +where venerable Unix commands live on, +described in the classic Unix style. Underneath, though, lies +a new kind of system, organized around communication and +naming rather than files and processes. +</P> +<P> +In Plan 9, distributed computing is a central premise, +not an evolutionary add-on. The system relies on a +uniform protocol to refer to and communicate +with objects, whether they be data or processes, and whether or +not they live on the same machine or even similar machines. +A single paradigm (writing to named places) unifies +all kinds of control and interprocess signaling. +</P> +<P> +Name spaces can be built arbitrarily. In particular all +programs available to a given user are customarily united +in a single logical directory. +Temporary files and +untrusted activities can be confined in isolated spaces. +When a portable machine connects to the +central, archival file system, the machine's local +name space is joined smoothly to that of the archival file system. +The architecture affords other unusual abilities, including: +</P> +<DL> +<DT><DT> <DD> +Objects in name spaces imported from other machines (even from +foreign systems such as MS-DOS) are transparently accessible. +<DT><DT> <DD> +Windows appear in name spaces on a par with files and processes. +<DT><DT> <DD> +A historical file system allows one to navigate +the archival file system in time as well as in space; +backup files are always at hand. +<DT><DT> <DD> +A debugger can handle simultaneously active processes +on disparate kinds of hardware. +</dl> +<P> +The character set of Plan 9 is Unicode, which +covers most of the world's major scripts. +The system has its own programming languages: +a dialect of C with simple inheritance, a simplified shell, +and a CSP-like concurrent language, Alef. +An ANSI-POSIX emulator (APE) admits unreconstructed Unix code. +</P> +<P> +Plan 9 is the work of many people. +The protocol was begun by Ken Thompson; naming +was integrated by Rob Pike and networking by Dave Presotto. +Phil Winterbottom simplified the management of name spaces +and re-engineered the system. +They were joined by Tom Killian, Jim McKie, and Howard Trickey in +bringing the system up on various machines and making +device drivers. +Thompson made the C compiler; +Pike, window systems; +Tom Duff, the shell and raster graphics; +Winterbottom, Alef; +Trickey, Duff, and Andrew Hume, APE. +Bob Flandrena ported a myriad of +programs to Plan 9. +Other contributors include +Alan Berenbaum, +Lorinda Cherry, +Bill Cheswick, +Sean Dorward, +David Gay, +Paul Glick, +Eric Grosse, +John Hobby, +Gerard Holzmann, +Brian Kernighan, +Bart Locanthi, +Doug McIlroy, +Judy Paone, +Sean Quinlan, +Bob Restrick, +Dennis Ritchie, +Bjarne Stroustrup, +and +Cliff Young. +</P> +<P> +Plan 9 is made available as is, without formal support, but +substantial comments or contributions may be communicated to +the authors. +<br> <br> +<DL><DT><DD> +<DL><DT><DD> +<DL><DT><DD> +<DL><DT><DD> +<DL><DT><DD> +<DL><DT><DD> +<DL><DT><DD> +<DL><DT><DD> +Doug McIlroy +<br> +March, 1995 + +</P> +<br> <br> +<A href=http://www.lucent.com/copyright.html> +Copyright</A> © 2000 Lucent Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. +</body></html> |