Re: PostgreSQL

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I think it comes down to:    THREADING IS HARD

WAY too many people try to write threaded code and fail.

As a example, look at gnokii. It used to run fine on NetBSD, then it
grew threading, and stopped working. 

Why? So that morons could write:
     while(1) {
	      if(dtr is true) break;
     }

(I haven't tried to run it on NetBSD in three years. I suspect it has
gotten better) 

Writing good multithreaded user-space code is really *HARDER* than
writing kernel code.  If you think about this, you realize why
"professional" application code is often so crappy, huge, bloated,
buggy. 

Leaning to write co-routines and select/poll interfaces is takes a bit
more brain power at first than writing the above busy-loop, but is SO
MUCH easier to debug that the effort pays off.

I think that the postgresql people know this.

- -- 
]       ON HUMILITY: to err is human. To moo, bovine.           |  firewalls  [
]   Michael Richardson,    Xelerance Corporation, Ottawa, ON    |net architect[
] [email protected]      http://www.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca/mcr/ |device driver[
] panic("Just another Debian GNU/Linux using, kernel hacking, security guy"); [

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