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From: warwick@cs.uq.oz.au (Warwick Allison)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: standard practices
Message-ID: <324@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au>
Date: 21 Mar 91 03:37:39 GMT
Article-I.D.: uqcspe.324
References: <1991Mar20.204257.26740@convex.com>
Sender: news@cs.uq.oz.au
Reply-To: warwick@cs.uq.oz.au
Lines: 33

In <1991Mar20.204257.26740@convex.com> rosenkra@convex.com (William Rosencranz) writes:


>while on the subject of standards, can i throw in my 2 cents on another
>plead for consistency?

>it would be really nice if unix-like programs on the ST (or anywhere, for
>that matter) would include the following command line switches:

>	-debug		to turn on internal debugging, if any
>	-help		to print a usage synopsis
>	-version	to print current program version
>	-changes	to print major changes since last rev (or indicate
>			that this is first rev)

-debug	 - Very rarely used, so should be #IFDEFed out in releaase.
-help	 - No way!  I MUCH prefer "man <command>" - and again, save on program size.
-version - I totally agree, it takes no effort or space, and is useful for updates.
-changes - No, stick it in the manual.

See.  Standards only work if they are inarguably beneficial.

Personally, I write more GEM stuff than TOS stuff, and in THAT CASE, "help", "version"
and "changes" are good things to include - because the average GEM user is _potentially_
a dim wit - so it goes to make the program more User Friendly.  People who use 
command lines are used to using "man" or just "more"ing the documentation.

Warwick.
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