MasonGulu

On Writing a ComputerCraft OS

One of the most common projects I've seen for ComputerCraft is to write an operating system. People look at the limited command-line interface that CraftOS provides, and think, "I want this to work like my normal computer does!" Time and time again, a new post pops up on the ComputerCraft forums or Discord either announcing an OS, or asking for help with an OS, or releasing an OS. Usually, there are some very obvious flaws in these "OS"es, ranging from poor design choices, to overstating what they are and underdelivering. There are many common misunderstandings and undersights that newbie developers run into when writing an operating system, and these end up creating mediocre products at best.

A Critical Distinction

The term "OS" is thrown around a lot, and in my opinion it's very overused. According to [Wikipedia]: "An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs." However, m

	-- ModemShark: Modem packet sniffer for ComputerCraft
	-- By JackMacWindows
	-- Licensed under GPLv2+

	local stackWindow, viewerWindow, lines, scrollPos
	local w, h = term.getSize()
	local selectedLine
	local stack = {}
	local file

	-- Fireworks screensaver animation
	-- By L0laapk3, based on Rectar's Fireworks

	launchRate = 0.03

	fireworks = {}
	particles = {}
	fcolors={1,2,4,8,16,32,64,512,1024,2048,8192,16384}
	particleChars = {"#","X","+","*","."}