Singularity: A research OS written in C# MS Researchers Jim Larus and Galen Hunt lead an intriguing project where they've built an OS using managed code. The project is known as Singularity. In their own words: Singularity is a research project focused on the construction of dependable systems through innovation in the areas of systems, languages, and tools. We are building a research operating system prototype (called Singularity), extending programming languages, and developing new techniques and tools for specifying and verifying program behavior.
Besides Singularity's kernel being successfully written in C# (how cool is that!) , there are all kinds of interesting lessons learned with respect to what a managed OS enables. Again, this is a prototype research OS, not a full fledged OS that can run the typical applications you've come to expect of an OS (or even provide a user interface beyond, say, that of DOS). Enjoy. Download Size: 168 MB. Singularity IV: Return of the UI. Singularity RDK. Singularity. "...it is impossible to predict how a singularity will affect objects in its causal future. " - NCSA Cyberia Glossary The Singularity Research Development Kit (RDK) 2.0 is now available for academic non-commercial use. You can download it from CodePlex, Microsoft's open source project hosting website, here. Our recent article in Operating Systems Review, Singularity: Rethinking the Software Stack, is a concise introduction to the Singularity project. It summarizes research in the current Singularity releases and highlights ongoing Singularity research.
Singularity is a research project focused on the construction of dependable systems through innovation in the areas of systems, languages, and tools. Advances in languages, compilers, and tools open the possibility of significantly improving software. Singularity uses these advances to build more reliable systems and applications. Singularity: Rethinking Dependable System Design. What would software look like if it were designed from scratch with dependability and trustworthiness as the primary goal? That’s the question Microsoft Research’s Galen Hunt, Jim Larus, and a team of colleagues asked themselves when they embarked on an ambitious research project in 2003.
Five years later, they’re ready to propose an answer: It would look like Singularity, a new system-architecture and operating system built on advances in programming languages and tools. Hunt, a principal researcher and manager of Microsoft Research Redmond’s Operating Systems Group, and Larus, a research-area manager in the Software Improvement Group, aimed to rethink system design in light of many research advances and a changed computing environment. And now that Singularity has reached a useful level of stability and functionality, they think it’s time that other researchers in academia and industry have an opportunity to build on their research.
Galen Hunt Rethinking 1960s-Era Design Decisions.