Win32 and Linux both have APIs for mapping a file into a memory so it can be accessed via a pointer just like any other memory.
This sounds like it would be an extremely straightforward way to cut down the time taken to load type libraries and the registry into memory. Instead of malloc'ing a chunk of memory and fread'ing the file into it, we just map the whole file straight in and it's there. Bits of the file are paged in just like VM whenever they're accessed. Does this sound like a good idea? Perhaps it could even be extended to other things such as fastload files.
