Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!comp.vuw.ac.nz!waikato!ldo
From: ldo@waikato.ac.nz (Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Waikato University)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: MPW Shell 3.2 wish
Message-ID: <2614.278613ee@waikato.ac.nz>
Date: 5 Jan 91 04:59:10 GMT
References: <2577.277bac4f@waikato.ac.nz> <1990Dec28.174935.23515@svc.portal.com>
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Lines: 55

In <1990Dec28.174935.23515@svc.portal.com>, leonardr@svc.portal.com
(Leonard Rosenthol) comments on my suggestions on the handling of
windows in the MPW Shell as follows:

"YUCH!  I've been using the MPW 3.2 shell since the first Q release
on ETO #1, and I make frequent use of the split window.  My usage is exactly
in line with the implementation that Apple has chosen - the ability to be
looking at two (or more) different parts of a source file at the same time...

"I do not argue the 'sync scrolling' is a useful feature, but I have
yet to find a time where I really wanted it - and those few times were where
I wanted TWO DIFFERENT files to be synced!"

I think that, if you're viewing two (or more) completely independent parts
of the same file, you're better off having multiple windows open. The
Shell should support this by having a "New Window" function in its
"Windows" menu, which would create a new window showing the same file
as is being displayed in the currently-active window. Why do I think so?
Because multiple windows can be arranged in a much more flexible fashion
that multiple panes in the same window.

As for syncing two different files, the 3.2 Shell already partially supports
that. The new built-in command "ShowSelection" lets you, among other things,
scroll the view in window so the specified line is at the top. You could
use this from a script, together with the output from "Compare", to
browse through two files, showing the differences side-by-side.

I can't see that it would be very useful to have the ability to "lock"
the scrolling in two windows, showing *different* files, to each other, so
that they always showed the same line numbers. The contents of those
lines aren't likely to correspond in any meaningful fashion, so what's
the use?

But what *would* be nice is to extend the control of panes from scripts,
and to give access to that, and the ShowSelection functionality, to
tools.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the ability to extend the selection
using shift with the cursor keys is *very* welcome (as well as being
long overdue). There still seem to be a few limitations, at least
in the 3.2b8 version of the Shell: extending the selection downwards
doesn't autoscroll the window, and using shift with command left-
or right-arrows (to jump to the beginning of the end of the line)
doesn't extend the selection: it just seems to ignore the shift key.

Finally, the new Shell seems distinctly slower entering text: I hope
this will be fixed in the release version.

Apart from that, I agree with Leonard: overall, the new Shell is
a significant improvement!

Lawrence D'Oliveiro                       fone: +64-71-562-889
Computer Services Dept                     fax: +64-71-384-066
University of Waikato            electric mail: ldo@waikato.ac.nz
Hamilton, New Zealand    37^ 47' 26" S, 175^ 19' 7" E, GMT+13:00