Bhaskar wrote:
>Code specific to each MUMPS implementation should belong in the kernel,
>isolated from the applications.
>
>GT.M doesn't provide a function to stat a file. The two approaches
>would be to use ZSYstem to call a program like ls, stat or file, or to
>call a standard C library function to get the answer.
This reminds me of what I think might be THE most elegant way to extend MUMPS
to a more
complete computing paradigm. Allow direct mapping of a global to a directory of
files such
that from the MUMPS side, a file could be treated simply as a global variable,
and from
the OS side, MUMPS data (some, not necessarily all) could be made directly
accessible to
other applications.
When I was (prior to GT.M/Linux) actively seeking a way forward for MUMPS
development that
could avoid lock-in to proprietary databases and trying to find a way to have
the benefits
of MUMPS globals in other programming languages, it occurred to me that the
closest thing
to MUMPS globals outside of MUMPS is the file system provided by each OS.
Both provide an ordered hierarchical collection of persistent shared named
values. MUMPS
globals are generally optimized more for speed of access to a larger tree of
data with
generally smaller data values, but the similarities seem amazingly close to me.
The primary differences are that
1) files are essentially unlimited in size where MUMPS data values
generally have been constrained to a size of hundreds or perhaps
thousands of bytes. GT.M now allows local values up to one megabyte
but limits global values to blocks of 1KB up to 32KB (last I checked).
2) Every file generally has individual access permissions but an individual
global reference generally does not. Some MUMPS implementations allow
individual globals to map to separate files while others allow ranges of
subscripts within a given global to be mapped to different files.
Providing an optional globals model that simply maps a global to a directory of
a file
system would make the exchange of data with other applications simpler and more
uniform, A
MUMPS data file that could be mounted as a file system for some purposes could
provide a
potentially faster file system.
---------------------------------------
Jim Self
Systems Architect, Lead Developer
VMTH Computer Services, UC Davis
(http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/us/jaself)
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