Talk:Supervisory program

Proposed merge with Kernel (operating system)
Article is short and is mainly associated with the IBM supervisor program. Is known as a kernel in other operating systems, so should be merged to create a general article. Tom29739 [ talk ] 15:25, 12 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Support - Kieran  Tribe  14:49, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Support: It would be much more understandable to the readers as a few appropriately placed sentences in the Kernel (operating system) article, but the merger shouldn't take place unless actual references can be provided because the currently listed one is unusable. &mdash; Dsimic (talk &#124; contribs) 05:08, 21 June 2016 (UTC)

FOR NOW against "merge" - Flesh out this article first
The "smaller" machines that had for-its-day useful operating systems often had a memory-resident portion and a non-resident portion.

Perhaps comparing Kernel as it exists today to the above-mentioned memory-resident portion of an operating system might be like comparing single propeller airplanes to multi-engine jets, if not spaceships. Fanciful as this may sound, it would have seemed unrealistic to contrast Kernal and MICRO-kernel to someone who was using a "kernal" of 500 bytes or thereabouts, decades ago.

It would seem advisable to make this into a more complete article, refs/citations, etc. and then consider whether a "SEE ALSO" (within the Kernal's History section) is or is not more appropriate than a full merger.

As for "a few appropriately placed sentences in the Kernel (operating system) article" (above), this does not preclude fleshing out this article to give it proper historical perspective. When a 4-Gig memory card is considered obsolete, if unobtainable in most stores, how does a new-comer to the field relate to. . . not even 4-Meg but. . 4K !

On second thought:
 * Against - merging an article on a single-propeller airplane into a general article on modern airliners is unlikely to better meet the needs of those looking to understand either.

Just as merging IBM System/360 into IBM mainframe would not benefit either article's readers, my vote is let's just flesh out this article. Pi314m (talk) 22:37, 11 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Actually, it is not "known as a kernel in other operating systems". In other operating systems, it has many names, of which "kernel" is but one.  Others include "nucleus", "executive", "control program", "supervisor", "monitor", and "core".  Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 17:38, 25 July 2017 (UTC)

As a novice studying computing the understanding of 'supervisor' brought clearer understanding of 'hypervisor' this is the only source I have found that makes this connection it was not mentioned at uni. Is obfuscation admirable? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Testyphill (talk • contribs) 02:18, 29 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Closing, given consensus not to merge. Klbrain (talk) 18:52, 15 March 2018 (UTC)