Submission + - New Operating System Uses Hardware-Based Memory Protection Model (frute.net)
alternative_right writes: FRUTE asks what an operating system looks like when the CPU, language runtime, garbage collector, compiler, and authority model are designed together instead of bolted together after the fact.
Conventional systems make language runtimes recover structure from untyped words, make security policy chase ambient names, and make garbage collectors infer which machine values are pointers. FRUTE moves those facts into the architecture: values are tagged, authority is explicit, and Scheme is treated as a first-class systems language.
Most CPUs treat memory as undifferentiated bits, then ask every compiler, runtime, kernel, and debugger to remember what those bits mean. FRUTE values carry architectural tags, so the machine can distinguish pointers, fixnums, characters, capabilities, bitmaps, and runtime objects directly.
Conventional systems make language runtimes recover structure from untyped words, make security policy chase ambient names, and make garbage collectors infer which machine values are pointers. FRUTE moves those facts into the architecture: values are tagged, authority is explicit, and Scheme is treated as a first-class systems language.
Most CPUs treat memory as undifferentiated bits, then ask every compiler, runtime, kernel, and debugger to remember what those bits mean. FRUTE values carry architectural tags, so the machine can distinguish pointers, fixnums, characters, capabilities, bitmaps, and runtime objects directly.