On 3/6/07, Jared [email protected] wrote:
I understand this. I still resist the notion of any limitation between a programming language and the machine, because it is a dangerous trend to limit the developer from full, assembler-level access to all hardware.
You may have full access to all hardware on =your= computer. You may even have that access in source code that I, or people I trust, get to look at before we compile it and run it on =my= computer. But bear in mind that no userspace program needs access to the hardware. Only the kernel (including device drivers) needs that access.
And there is no way that Joe Blow's Website gets to download a program to run on my computer and do God Knows What. I might let Joe send me a java applet that runs in a sandbox where it can't try to sniff credit card numbers, bank accounts, passwords, etc.
If that stunts Joe's development as a programmer, so be it.