Whilst browsing Slashdot today, I came across a post describing yet-another-computer-science debate. This one in particular is regarding the debate regarding microkernels versus monolithic kernels in operating system design. The players: Andrew Tanenbaum & Linus Torvalds. Torvalds is, of course, the original writer & maintainer of the Linux kernel, while Tanenbaum is the author of what can be called the precursor to Linux – Minix (undergoing a Slashdotting at the time of this writing).
But I didn’t make this post to discuss operating system design. As it turns out, Tanenbaum is a rather decent writer, and I found myself rather drawn to the numerous writings he has up on his website. Amongst the interesting reads I encountered were the following:
- Description of an interview with a “reporter” with a rather transparent agenda
- Rebuttal of the claims that resulted from that interview
- Analysis of this reporter from Tanenbaum himself
(I think I was really interested in this particular series of events, apparently).
I gotta stop reading your links…. I read all of the links and the debate on slashdot to..
Part of the reason I put all those links is to trace, basically, my own pattern of viewing the sites. This is a trend you’ll find in most of my posts (but it makes my posting all that much more complicated…)