The virtual machine revisited

daRk_heLmet · Aug 11, 2005, 01:05 AM

Does anyone remember the original Basic interpreter found in the Apple II and in PC-DOS? How about the Pascal-based p-system from UCSD — introduced in the late 1980s?
The early days of integrated software suites were no better. I remember one particular software suite that had to load its 256KB interpreter (an old term for today's run-time engines) in order to execute the command to clear the screen! On a 640KB machine, this represented a lot of overhead. The MS-DOS "command.com" and today's "cmd.exe" are none other than simple run-time interpreters for executing commands.
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Read More/Source: ZDNet

Aug 11, 2005, 01:05 AM	#1
daRk_heLmet Keep firing, assholes! Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Death Star Posts: 1,072 Rep Power: 0	The virtual machine revisited Does anyone remember the original Basic interpreter found in the Apple II and in PC-DOS? How about the Pascal-based p-system from UCSD — introduced in the late 1980s? The early days of integrated software suites were no better. I remember one particular software suite that had to load its 256KB interpreter (an old term for today's run-time engines) in order to execute the command to clear the screen! On a 640KB machine, this represented a lot of overhead. The MS-DOS "command.com" and today's "cmd.exe" are none other than simple run-time interpreters for executing commands. ______________________ Read More/Source: ZDNet __________________ [color=white]My Blog[/color]