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From: sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Computers for users not programmers
Message-ID: <1991Feb15.202246.27266@kithrup.COM>
Date: 15 Feb 91 20:22:46 GMT
References: <2933@charon.cwi.nl> <1991Feb14.153747.26911@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> <3204@crdos1.crd.ge.COM>
Organization: Kithrup Enterprises, Ltd.
Lines: 29

(Hey!  This is actually mildly architectural related!)
In article <3204@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.com (bill davidsen) writes:
>  When the seamless environment comes along... We had this argument with
>the people who run the Cray2 we use. They really didn't want to support
>character at a time interrupts for our portable screen editor. Their
>argument was that "it doesn't make good use of the machine." Our reply
>was that we weere not interested in making good use of the machine, we
>were unterested in making good use of the PhD's who use it. And having
>them moving files to a VAX to edit one line, then back to compile, is a
>poor use of them.

It's at times like this that I suggest using sam, available from the AT&T
toolchest.  sam consists of two parts, one being the "user-friendly"
interface, the other being the editor.  sam-the-editor is a very powerful
(but very stupid) line-oriented editor (that is, its commands are given a
line at a time); sam-the-user-friendly-interface, however, is a nice
window-oriented editor with a nice graphical interface.  stufi translates
what you want to do into ste commands.

I really like the idea of sam; it lets you use your workstation as
inefficiently as you wish to, yet doesn't require the remote site to jump
through hoops to support it.  (And, yes, some machines *do* have to jump
through hoops to permit character-at-a-time response!)

-- 
Sean Eric Fagan  | "I made the universe, but please don't blame me for it;
sef@kithrup.COM  |  I had a bellyache at the time."
-----------------+           -- The Turtle (Stephen King, _It_)
Any opinions expressed are my own, and generally unpopular with others.