Object-Orientation FAQ

Refs to be included in future FAQs.  See also Appendix E.

Object-Oriented Operating Systems provide resources through objects, sometimes
all the way down to to the machine (OO architectures are found at the bottom).
They are almost always distributed systems (DOS or DPOS), allowing objects to
be passed freely between machines.  They are typically capability-based since
objects, and hence system resources, can only be accessed if a capability to
them is available to programs.

Here are some abstracts taken from several postings to the net.  This list is
by no means exhaustive.

Apertos (Meta-Object-based Mikro-Kernel.  See Appendix E, Papers:28)
Chorus Micro-kernel (written in C++, COOL, See Appendix E, Papers:63)
Choices (research OS, UofI, C++, supports SVR4, See Appendix E, Papers)
GEOS    (GeoWorks', written in Object Assembler, OO superset of 8086)
Mach    (CMU, supports BSD 4.3, really message-based)
NachOS  (written in C++, OS teaching/learning OS)
Ouverture Project (ESPRIT funded OMG IDL defines inter-module interfaces)
Peace    (OO family-based parallel OS, See Appendix E, General)
SOS
Spring      (Sun, written in C++)
PenPoint OS (Go, written in C++)

For the Spring Papers (free), Contact:
  Sun Microsystems Laboratories, Inc.
  M/S 29-01
  2550 Garcia Avenue
  Mountain View, CA USA  94043

See also APPENDIX E, PAPERS, Persistent Operating Systems entry.

From: whitney@oberon.Meakins.McGill.CA ()

Insight ETHOS: On Object-Orientation in Operating Systems
ISBN 3 72811948 2

This thesis covers the design of an extensible object-oriented
operating systems. The language used was Oberon-2. It includes
a generalization of the Rider/Carrier principle, Object Directories
as well as basic OS issues such as memory, file, tasking management.
It covers extensible objected-oriented programming from hardware up.
It reviews other designs such as Clouds and Choices which where written
It reviews other designs such as Clouds and Choices which where written
on C++. [[ The lack of type-tests in C++ was a problem in other designs.]]
ETHOS was implemented as an operating system for the Ceres computers
at the ETH.