Re: power line (AS/400) article in computerworld

["Steve Richter" <stephenrichter@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 10:07 PM, Peter Dow (ML)
<maillist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Steve,
>
> exactly what
> kind of programming are you doing that /requires/ 64-byte pointers?

a programmer should not have to choose between various memory models,
each with drawbacks and advantages. a 64 byte pointer has room for a
guid and whatever else is needed to provide a single memory model that
provides all the advantages of the various ones currently in use.

>  And
> what program could you write if you just had at least 11 characters for
> the object names?  Ok, ok, at least 4096 characters like we have in
> RPGLE?  Are you unable to write these programs now?

besides the obvious, that you can have meaningful names and names that
relate one object to another ( billing_entry, billing_print ), the
topic is an entry point into what you would think would be an
interesting discussion of how long object names could be implemented,
what the impact would be on existing apps, and why is the feature
still not available, 30 yrs after the introduction of CPF.

>  Or do you think
> it's a performance thing to have 64-byte pointers?  I'd think pointers
> that long would slow things down if they were used ubiquitously -- i.e.
> throughout the OS -- unless the hardware is modified to support them.

consider Peter that the S/38 had 16 byte pointers. Power6 based
systems likely have 1000x the performance and memory of those original
systems. Increasing the pointer size by a factor of 4 should be well
within the performance capabilities of modern day hardware.

-Steve