Enlighten me on Streams.

[dmr at alice.UUCP]

Chris Torek writes,
 It is probably worth noting that those who have seen both the V8
 Streams and the SysV STREAMS (different spellings, for some reason)
 claim that the two should be considered `second cousins' more than
 `parent and offspring'.

For better or worse, STREAMS is the offspring of Streams; it's TLI
that is the cuckoo's egg.  Still, everyone is worried about
water pollution these days.

And though it is always jarring hear the name SHOUTED, there's probably
some merit in the typographical distinction, for `stream' is a cruelly
overloaded term even in local context: stdio docco refers to streams,
and there's a stream I/O library in C++, plus the generic
usage.  Not to forget Ron Hardin's question:  why call it a stream
when the data flows both ways?

To help with the original question: AT&T publishes a paperback
`STREAMS Primer' as well as a guide to writing STREAM modules.
Sorry not to have the select code, but it should be in the
System V documentation list.

	Dennis Ritchie