Autocoding >Re: "Introduction to Ethics",

Neil Hodgson nhodgson at bigpond.net.au
Mon Jan 28 19:06:11 EST 2002


Kragen Sitaker:

> Can you explain what he sees VIC as, please?  I really want to know,
> but I can't figure it out.

   VIC appears to be what was called in the 80s a "software bus": systems
software that manages the flow of data between processes and provides
facilities to control that flow. The term seems to be used mainly for
distributed systems now and there are too many poor matches on Google to
find a decent reference to show.

   I've worked on some software bus systems and they are often caused by an
architect hyper-generalizing: "OK, we have some tabular cost data,
interactive forms, and video feeds that need to be displayed on the user's
terminal so how about we publish them all over one mechanism with an
integrated query language". Such systems often provide high-paying long-term
employment with little real possibility of concrete outcomes. Contractor
heaven!

   Neil






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