08-09-2006, 02:41 AM
Quote:Out of curiosity, how much is FB dependent on run-time libraries?I haven't looked at the newer versions of FB, but IIRC it is quite dependant on the libraries. Strings and arrays for example make calls to the runtime libs. However since the runtime library source is readily available it could be rewritten if you wanted to use FB for creating an operating system with, I think it could be done although it would be a lot of work (and probably not worth the effort).
The reason languages like C are used for operating systems development is that they are not dependant on a runtime library. C programs can be compiled without linking to the standard C library and still have (basic char *) strings, arrays, structs etc. You don't get functions such as printf, malloc, strcpy, etc. If you need those functions when writing an operating system then you need to implement them yourself. Most operating systems for example have a function called kprintf which is a cut down version of printf for printing messages from within the kernel. Some of the code for the kprintf function will be system dependant since different systems print characters to the screen in different ways at the hardware level.
esus saves.... Passes to Moses, shoots, he scores!
