A computer system supporting data abstraction

Abstract

A computer system designed to support operating system facilities is formally specified. With the proposed technology, an operating system in the conventional sense of the word becomes superfluous. Instead, the facilities supported by e.g. a general-purpose operating system may be implemented as applications of the proposed computer system. This is made possible by the ability of the proposed system to support data abstraction rather than procedural abstraction as supported by conventional systems. The design is revolutionary in the integration of "processing" and "filing", as supported by the conventional systems "process" and "file" concepts. This is achieved by supporting a single system object, the "domain", which is an extension of the domain concept known in a number of systems. The capability concept will enable domains to reference each other in a network-like structure.A rationale for the use of data abstraction in operating systems can be found in [Madsen 79b].