http://events.ccc.de/congress/2007/Fahrplan/events/2321.en.html

Speakers: Vladsharp

After C: D, libd and the Slate project

A clean slate for operating systems

We present libd, a high-level runtime for the D programming language and the Slate project, an attempt at a high-level OS and environment built upon libd, as the next major step in improving the state of programming environments and operating systems. With high-level abstractions, and sensible design, the state of implementation of open-source OSes can improve. We leverage existing kernels when implementing Slate, and put an extensive (abstraction-oriented) architecture above the kernel to present the user (or programmer) with a system they can use by having to do less to perform a specific function. Our virtual machine approach also allows for security verification on a level not seen in *nix OSes before.

libd is a high-level runtime library for the D programming language. It is completely independent from existing C code except the *nix kernels it runs on, and of any compatibility issues with legacy code. This enables libd to establish support for various programming models (such as event-driven programming, traditional semi-OO procedural programming), message-passing, object persistence, task load balancing etc. The library has a very pluggable interface, and is therefore customizable.

On the basis of libd, we present the design of the Slate project, an advanced OS and environment. On the most basic level, we have a virtual machine, a vpn and a relational database store (with a unique twist) to enable further system services to build on top...