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From: dts@quad.sialis.com (David Sandberg)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.3b1,comp.sys.att
Subject: Re: ".GIF" files
Message-ID: <659@quad.sialis.com>
Date: 22 Feb 91 08:38:53 GMT
References: <1991Feb6.215717.26551@cbnewsj.att.com> <1991Feb7.204039.5842@sonyd1.Broadcast.Sony.COM> <993@gnosys.svle.ma.us>
Organization: Quadric Systems
Lines: 19

In article <993@gnosys.svle.ma.us> gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us (Gary S. Trujillo) writes:
>I've never understood why some people insist on using cat(1) to get stuff
>into the standard input of the lead program in a pipeline.  I claim that:
>	cat a | b | c
>is entirely equivalent in result to:
>	b < a | c

The latter may be functional equivalent, but it's not nearly as
readable to my eyes.  The "path" by which the data "travels"
starts in the middle of the command line, then jumps backwards to
the start before leap-frogging forward to the end.  On the other
hand, using cat(1) to feed the start of a pipeline gives you a
nice "front-to-back" data path which is more readily apparent at
the viewer's first glance.  (In my opinion, of course.)

-- 
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