A single model for files an processes
P Singleton, Keith H. Bennett, O. Pearl Brereton · ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review · 1986
In conventional operating systems, the concepts of files and processes are typically quite distinct, both in the job control language and at the internal "system call" interface. In this paper, the elimination of this dichotomy is explored, and a concept termed the "extrafile" is described which provides a single model for both processes and files (in their most common usage). The generalisation of extrafiles to include data abstraction facilities is discussed, and it is argued that an extrafile containing dependency prescriptions can provide a useful tool. An implementation of extrafiles in UNIX is described.