Re: Manipulating C code at the AST level, in C

On 8/15/26 07:20, Richard Kettlewell wrote:
> c186282 <[email protected]> writes:
>> On 8/14/26 07:26, Nuno Silva wrote:
>>> The online manual here (a GNU/Linux system) says:
>>>       "poll, ppoll - wait for some event on a file descriptor"
>>>
>>> Perhaps that should be rewritten. Reading further, it's not singular,
>>> but that description with "*A* file descriptor" does make it sound
>>> like poll is not a suitable replacement for select.
> 
> https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/docs/man-pages/man-pages.git/tree/CONTRIBUTING
> 
>>    Polling, for this sort of thing, has to be
>>    fast and constant - a big CPU drag.
> 
> poll() doesn’t poll, despite the name.

   Then it should be re-named.

>>    You are basically WAITING for something to happen - which MAY or may
>>    NOT happen at any moment.
>>
>>    The writers of various utils and basic system functions NEED to
>>    include some kind of easy flag or interrupt routine that other utils
>>    can monitor at VERY LOW CPU/Time investment.
> 
> Already done, several decades ago.

   I know, I was there, in the middle of it.

   "Chips" were the NEW NEAT-O Things. Didn't
   need a giant refrigerated box full of of
   big boards full of discrete transistors.
   Been there, seen those. You brought a
   jacket so you could do shit in the CPU
   room. Remember a DEC unit at one place,
   a roughly 1.5 meter square box in the
   middle of the laser-leveled cold-ass
   room PACKED with discrete transistors.
   The TAPE units lined the walls. Everything
   was 'overlay code' approach, explicit or
   implied.

   They COULD run an office full of serial
   terminals though, get lots or Real Stuff
   DONE  ....

   FORTRAN and COBOL.

   DID miss the 'tube era' - 'programming' with
   jumper wires - thank the gods. Hail Woden !

   Anyway, I/O Events, they SHOULD trigger a ISR
   that, at minimum, sets a "smart flag". Other
   software can LOOK for and ACT on those flags
   or lists or stacks WHEN MOST CONVENIENT.

   I remember when CPUs were CRAP ... slow, very
   limited. This stuck with me. ALWAYS look for
   the lowest CPU/Mem equation for dealing with
   "events".

   If anyone wants to learn good programming, start
   them on micro-controllers - near ZERO resources.

   Hmmmmm ... any source for late 50s "drum drives" ?
   It'd be just COOL to make 'em work with today's
   devices !  :-)

   Knew a guy who once worked with the inventor of
   the 'disk drive'. Seems the original protos used
   a coat of pure cobalt as the magnetic medium. Not
   really ideal, but they couldn't make ferrous
   coatings smooth/flat enough at the time.

   (Hmm ... legend says that Gods still live so long
   as they're remembered, their names still spoken.
   So, did I just revive Woden ? Granny pronounced
   it very close to "Wooden")