
TempleOS: x86_64 HolyC Compiler/Assembler/Unassembler [video] - adamnemecek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9yctup6bIw
======
mikeash
There's not a single drop of technical discussion in these comments. For
shame! Come on, people!

~~~
dang
Correct, and these discussions have been happening forever and are always the
same:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9683971](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9683971).

------
arcticbull
As much as people like to throw stones at Terry, TempleOS does some really
interesting things. It really is impressive that he's built an entire
operating system from the ground up from first principals. There are some
novel concepts in there; I loved his integration of sprites into source code.

~~~
thaumaturgy
I don't think people (here at least) really throw stones very much, and those
that do usually get downvoted or rebutted pretty mercilessly. Some past Terry
Davis threads:

He gets posted to usesthis.com:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7776743](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7776743)

A 5-minute random code walkthrough:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8349910](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8349910)

The Temple Operating System:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6308017](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6308017)

Why Davis' TempleOS is better than Torvald's Linux:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8779821](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8779821)

The majority of people really seem to respect his technical achievements, and
"TempleOS does a really interesting thing ____" isn't an uncommon comment.

~~~
jeffreyrogers
His video contrasting TempleOS with Linux is really interesting. It's
unfortunate that many of the people who watched it didn't understand the
points he was trying to make or just couldn't get past his inflammatory
language. TempleOS seems to address many of the deficiencies of Linux for
desktop usage.

~~~
brianwawok
> TempleOS seems to address many of the deficiencies of Linux for desktop
> usage.

What? Like networking and running concurrent programs? I guess I like my
deficiencies....

~~~
pekk
Everyone likes functionality. But functionality comes at the price of
complexity.

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frou_dh
It's crass that the comments on Terry's technical material always turn into a
psychoanalysis roundtable, given he is a HN reader.

~~~
DanBC
Especially because so many HN Commenters have little to no clue about serious
mental illness.

~~~
nadams
Mental illness aside - he accomplished something that I can only dream of. I'm
sure if I sat down, quit my job, and read hundreds of tutorials I could come
out with some sort of OS. I'm not a fan of the whole religious aspect - but
the core of the project is pretty amazing I think.

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jhallenworld
I knew someone else who made a jit C compiler similar to this, but for 68K
(also where the entire environment is in a single memory map). Functions could
be compiled when called. The advantage is that the compiler could treat
arguments as constants for further optimization.

It's impressive that he made his own optimizing compiler, even if it is not C
standard. From the video it has at least constant folding, dead code
elimination and jump optimization. It's interesting that the intermediate code
is in the form of a double-linked list for easy editing.

I would suggest to try to make a compiler which uses SSA- it's pretty simple
and allows more optimizations, particularly CSE. I worked with Bob Morgan at
one point, and I suggest his book on compilers as an accessible resource. He
would like your jump optimization outer loop: repeat while we're still making
progress.

~~~
blt
I've often thought about this idea. It could be as simple as `#pragma jit`
before a function call. If you're about to call a function that chews on a big
dataset for several seconds, it's probably worth the effort. In particular I'm
thinking of hot loops with an `if` statement or function pointer / virtual
call.

------
robbiep
I always find his videos fascinating but this is way over my head. Can someone
in the know please provide a bit of a breakdown of the design decisions he has
taken and how they compare with other compilers?

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kilon
Very hard to follow his way of thinking but I am just shocked at the amount of
work he has put into this. Just amazing !!!!

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bobsgame
Everyone here should download the ISO and give it a go in virtualbox. It's
surprisingly painless and quick to boot, and has an interesting and helpful
startup guide. Take the time to check it out, it is truly fascinating!

------
jason_slack
I have followed Terry's endeavors throughout the years.

1\. Why do all the source and headers have a .Z at the end?

2\. I truly wish there was a way to help Terry share his gift. What he is
capable of is truly a huge, huge accomplishment, especially for a single
person.

Terry, if you read this. Thank you. Watching your videos makes me get in gear
and read more..

------
Smushman
I see his work as a real testament to the power of the individual when given
the ability to focus and freed from restriction to pursue their calling in
life.

Not drawing any parallels here, but I am sure that there have been many 'Joan
of Arc' and 'Moses' in history, and only a very tiny number of those received
any recognition or praise. How many doubtlessly countless numbers were
forgotten or plain ignored? Their lifes work and passions laid bare for all to
see, only to be shuffled away when they weren't successful by others
measurements.

Tl;dr I see Terry as a reminder to march to your own drummer and to support
others to do the same; whether they win or lose.

~~~
DanBC
> march to your own drummer

Do you think that's what people with severe mental illness are doing?

~~~
vidarh
It is possible to recognise the creativity his opportunity to focus on doing
his own thing has allowed him to express without intending it to downplay the
challenges of his mental illness.

~~~
DanBC
Sure, but Smushman's comment isn't doing that. It's naive and ignorant feel-
good bullshit.

~~~
vidarh
And how is it you know that? The comment on its own does not provide enough
information to jump to that conclusion.

~~~
DanBC
> the power of the individual when given the ability to focus and freed from
> restriction to pursue their calling in life.

Most people with severe mental illness do not describe it as something that
has freed them, nor given them focus, to pursue the one thing they really want
to pursue.

There's a bunch of positive stuff about severe and enduring mental illness;
and we need to protect people so that they can live the way they want to live;
and we need to be careful to avoid the abuses of treatment that happened in
the past (and still happen today); but romanticising a severe and enduring
mental illness is fucking annoying.

This isn't his calling, it's his delusion's calling. and he's not freed from
restriction - that's a fucking idiotic thing to say about someone who lives in
relative poverty with severely limited options about where he lives and who
with.

The near complete lack of understanding of severe mental illness, coupled with
glib feel good platitudes, do real harm to many people.

~~~
mikeash
I don't see that as saying that Terry is free to pursue his project _because
of_ his schizophrenia. Rather, Terry _happens to be_ free to put a lot of time
into TempleOS and the results are pretty amazing. Terry is _also_
schizophrenic, but this is not freeing.

