On Oct 24, 2009, at 7:28 PM, dorayme wrote:
>> > > The thiotimoline bit I understand. Translated, you are possibly > saying, it is logically impossible to do X. Not sure how to google > for why an instruction that cannot be executed makes it impossible to > design the OS to say as much. Lacking a good model, I guess. Is it > like someone falls into a sound proof black hole suddenly and cannot > message anything? > > -- > dorayme > It would require a pre computer to do this. An individual instruction might be fine, but combined with others can cause problems. You would need to have a checking processor, with its' own ram, video chip and everything else that your system has to check the consequences of the next instruction. In other words, a whole complete system to check this. To simplify it, compare it to the following instruction: Take 3 steps forward. By itself, perfectly executable and will not cause a problem. However, add in the fact that you are standing on the edge of a 200 meter cliff and looking over it and now there is a huge problem executing that instruction. So to test a software instruction, you need to see everything that is going on around it, not just the particular line of code. So in order to fully evaluate whether an instruction will cause a problem, you have to try it on the exact setup that it will be run on. This is one of the great advantages that Macs have over pcs. There is a finite number of Mac systems that software vendors need to test their software on. In the pc world, there are hundreds of options for each component, making it impossible for vendors to try every combination to make sure there are no conflicts. HTH, Len --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
