Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!samsung!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!otter.hpl.hp.com!hpltoad!cdollin!kers From: kers@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Chris Dollin) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Re: UNIX mind-set (was: How wrong is MS-DOS?) Message-ID: Date: 14 Jan 91 10:01:02 GMT References: <1991Jan13.010437.7212@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu> <11261@lanl.gov> <1991Jan13.064946.29356@ee.ualberta.ca> Sender: news@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Usenet News Administrator) Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, UK. Lines: 35 In-Reply-To: jpenne@ee.ualberta.ca's message of 13 Jan 91 06:49:46 GMT Nntp-Posting-Host: cdollin.hpl.hp.com In this discussion, Jim Giles seems to be saying that useful functionality (eg regular expression matching) should be available as a library for putting into programs, and others seem to be saying it should be avilable for ad-hoc (their terms) use from shells. In fact they're both right - it should be available as *both*. Shell programmming is programming, and grep is the shell procedure for regular expression matching. C (or Ada, or Pop11) programming is programming, too, and RE matchers should be available in *their* standard libraries. Why deny the user of one language the capabilities of another, if they're conveniently available? Then pick the language suitable for the job at hand. It's a pain when different (shell-level) utilities have different representations for the same thing (eg, RE matching), because one loses track of which one does what. It's a pain when a utility doesn't export its useful services (eg, matching code) into a library, because it can't then be incorportated into ones own programs. It's a pain when the only way to use a utility is for the user to run up a window and do mouse-clicks, because then other programs ("real" code or scripts) can't use it conveniently; useful abstractions (such as RE matching, or spell checking, or thesaurus lookup) should be available as libraries, command-line programs, *and* snazzy interfaces. If only it were *easy*.... [This does'nt have much to do with the alleged "wrongness" of MS-DOS, and the connection to architecture - apart from the software architecture point made in the preprevious paragraph - is now tenuous enough that the thread ought to die or move house.] -- Regards, Kers. | "You're better off not dreaming of the things to come; Caravan: | Dreams are always ending far too soon."