[Info-vax] VSI roadmap

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 8/22/2023 10:19 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
> On 8/22/2023 8:05 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>> Are there some details that could have been done
>> different and better? Absolutely! Having record
>> size limit of 2 GB (32 bit length) instead of
>> 32 KB (16 bit length) would have been nice.
> 
> Some times you just drive me batty ....
> 
> What good would be a 2 GB record, when contemporary disk drives might be 
> 100 MB, or less?

I don't think it took that many years before 32 KB limit
was a problem.

And from 16 bit the next step is 32 bit. Nobody want 24 bit
length.

>> If VAR
>> files has length both as line header and line trailer,
>> then such a file could easily be read backwards. I am
>> sure that if Hein could travel back in time he could
>> have optimized caching a lot. But wanting to change
>> some implementation details 45 years later is
>> no unique for RMS.
> 
> Change hell, just implement what's needed.  In 5-10 years, it will all 
> be obsolete anyway.

Some things are hard to change later without breaking too much.

Of course they could have introduced VAR2 and kept VAR for
compatibility.

Arne