wow! now you really _are_ starting to ramble!
but the part further back was a really interesting patch of ramble: can we
retrace our steps to the part where you were about to explain the relation
of ddls and cpu register size? what do you mean?
also, isn't it too late or anyway a nearly insurmountable step to get rid
of the registry now? everything would have to be rewritten. would it be
worth it?
Felmon
Well, Felmon, we each have our own opinions, don't we?
Ain't it great to live in such a great country where each of us have
every right to our own opinions?
DDLs were invented to help developers create programs with more data.
At the time, a DATA section of an executable could only be 64K. So
DLLs were developed to allow developers to create programs with larger
than the 64K of data (also program code, but I digress), which was
then swapped in and out of memory as needed. IT worked great, till
Windows 95 and the REgistry were revealed to the world. Then,
developers started using the Registry as kind of a secondary DLL,
where they could keep program data as well as global program variables
and permanent variables.
AS more and more programmers caught on to the REgistry (remember, this
was still an era when a 64K data area was the only place to put data)
as a place to store such data, the Registry lost its original usage
and became a kind of super DLL they could use to make larger programs
with a limited size. Soon, there was nothing but confusion and
rampant misuse of the Registry, as today. Instead of INIs,
programmers use the Registry to store their global data and program
settings.
Of course, as address space became larger, the Registry became
redundant, but they STILL hang on to it out of motherlove or fatherape
or something. Anything but the original purpose, which was for
registering file types, hardware data, etc with the Windows command
processor. The Registry has become huge and sprawling and is now used
as a general-purpose repository of data for programs and devices.
But the Registry is now the single most dragging part of Windows, and
slows Windows down beyond comprehension, making it very difficult to
write managed code. Which is why I suggest it be gotten rid of ASAP.
If developers don't want to write large programs (why, I just don't
know.), why not continue using DLLs, and keep the dlls with their
program code, rather than stashing them in the Windows directory,
where they are completely unrelateable to the program data. I guess
they still try to hang on to every spare bit of address space as
holdover from the 64k data days. But it is no longer necessary to be
penny-wise with their program data. There's plenty of address space
nowadays, lots of memory to use. But there they are, still trying to
squeeze out every bit like it's the last one.
Anyway, that's my opinion. Whatz yerz....
Donald
