Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!mit-eddie!apollo!rehrauer
From: rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Commodore and UNIX in AmigaWorld 68030
Summary: Pick yer pizzen
Keywords: UNIX CBM 68030 "gangly"
Message-ID: <476806de.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM>
Date: 13 Dec 89 19:43:00 GMT
References: <2318@jolnet.ORPK.IL.US> <38689@lanl.gov> <38703@lanl.gov>
Sender: root@apollo.HP.COM
Reply-To: rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer)
Distribution: na
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Apollo Division - Chelmsford, MA
Lines: 28

In article <38703@lanl.gov> tjf@lanl.gov (Tom J Farish) writes:
>The main problem those of use raised on VMS have with unix is the
>lack of easily remembered commands, I think.

I'll agree that on the surface, VMS is friendlier to new users.  Certainly
"SHOW this" and "SET that" seem more intuitive than the usual Unix equiv-
alents.  But VMS' command-language badly suffers from verbose syntax and
excessive "slashism"; "SHOW this and that / except=blah / foo / bletch=45".
I may know that I want to "SHOW" something, but arriving at the arcane
sentence to do it isn't always trivial.  Most of the experienced VMS people
I know have a long list of abbrevs & symbols they setup at login, and what
they type at the VMS "$" isn't usually much less obscure than the Unix
commands you're complaining about.  But it IS *SHORTER* than the stupid
"raw" VMS commands, and that's why they do it!

>want to do a DIRectory?   Use 'ls' of course!

I'm frankly surprised they didn't make it "SHOW DIR" in VMS.  (No smileys.)

Note that I'm *NOT* defending bizarre & arcane Unix syntax.  I do my share
of "&%#@$&^%@#$"ing at at it every day. ;-)  I think the real point is that
(truism warning!) people get used to what they get used to, and ANYTHING
else often seems "brain-dead" by comparison.  I've used VMS and Unix and
MS-DOS and PRIMOS and a couple of others of lesser fame and they ALL have
their flaws and saving graces, IMHO.
--
>>"Aaiiyeeee!  Death from above!"<< | Steve Rehrauer, rehrauer@apollo.hp.com
   "Flee, lest we be trod upon!"    | The Apollo System Division of H.P.