Over the years, the IT landscape has shifted dramatically. Multicore CPUs that challenge the Von Neumann machine, the internet, and distributed systems are just some of the changes that occurred in the last 30 years. So, where does system programming stand in this landscape?
Beginning with system programming
Software for software
Let's start with the standard textbook definition first.
System programming (or systems programming) is the activity of programming computer system software. The primary distinguishing characteristic of system programming when compared to application programming is that application programming aims to produce software that provides services directly to the user (for example, a word...
