Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!dali.cs.montana.edu!milton!hayes.ims.alaska.edu!floyd
From: floyd@ims.alaska.edu (Floyd Davidson)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: UNIX mind-set  (was: How wrong is MS-DOS?)
Message-ID: <1991Jan14.013815.11419@ims.alaska.edu>
Date: 14 Jan 91 01:38:15 GMT
References: <1991Jan13.113349.21937@ims.alaska.edu> <11305@lanl.gov>
Organization: University of Alaska, Institute of Marine Science
Lines: 37

In article <11305@lanl.gov> jlg@lanl.gov (Jim Giles) writes:
>From article <1991Jan13.113349.21937@ims.alaska.edu>, by floyd@ims.alaska.edu (Floyd Davidson):
>> [...]
>> The advantage of UNIX is that tools are trivial to the point of
>> doing just one basic thing.  As a result each user can easily
>> build larger tools to do *anything*.  [...]
>
>By this logic, ls doesn't fit the paradigm.  I can (on any UNIX)
>do 'ls x*y' and get all the files whos names begin with x and end
>with y.  By the paradigm you just stated, I _should_ have to do
>'ls | grep x*y'.  The fact is, _even_ the UNIX implementors realized
>that ls should have a built-in filter on file names.  My claim is


The fact is, _even_ after ten years of using UNIX, you are still
refusing to *learn* UNIX.

It is very hard to argue against something you don't understand.
Several of you statements, including the one above, have been
prime examples.

Why not be honest about it.  You don't want to learn UNIX.  Fine,
I have the same feeling about MS-DOS.  I'm quite willing to admit
that it is just the right thing for millions of computer users,
but *I* don't want to learn it.  That does not make MS-DOS a
worthless thing.  (It may in fact be worthless, but certainly not
because it has no attractions for me!)

You don't want to learn UNIX.  Fine.  Don't.  But you are telling
us an awful lot about yourself by arguing that you know it...

Floyd

-- 
Floyd L. Davidson                                  floyd@ims.alaska.edu
Salcha, AK 99714                    paycheck connection to Alascom, Inc.
 When I speak for them, one of us will be *out* of business in a hurry.