Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utcs.toronto.edu!cks
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
From: cks@hawkwind.utcs.toronto.edu (Chris Siebenmann)
Subject: Re: POSIX bashing
Message-ID: <1991Apr2.032733.26365@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>
Organization: Ziebmef home away from home
References: <3419@unisoft.UUCP> <5980071@hpfcdc.HP.COM> <3446@unisoft.UUCP> <15621@smoke.brl.mil> <70319@brunix.UUCP>
Date: 2 Apr 91 08:27:33 GMT
Lines: 26

cgy@cs.brown.edu (Curtis Yarvin) writes:
| Cooked mode is obsolete.  It was originally an efficiency hack to
| reduce I/O processing; this has long been a marginal optimisation.  Any
| text interface written today should use the GNU "readline" libraries,
| or an equivalent.

 This is argueable; some of us think we have better solutions to this
than giving every application the intelligence of GNU Emacs; usually
this involves running all our programs under some sort of "front end"
that we like better. Available front ends range from things like GNU
Emacs, through pty-based general line editing and history tools like
atty and fep, to special windowing terminal programs such as Sun's
cmdtool or 'sux' (an X11 emulation of the Blit/DMD 'mux' text
interface). My personal favorite of these is 'sux'; with it I get
scrollbars (and thus command and output recall) and full cut and paste
(and resend) editing of my entire session. I've found that it's
amazingly convenient once you get used to it; it has easily replaced my
usage of tcsh and fep and similar tools.

[I know not everyone has windowing terminals these days, but we are
 talking about the future here, not current realities.]
--
		V9: the kernel where you can do
			fgrep <something> */*.[ch]
		and not get "Arguments too long".
cks@hawkwind.utcs.toronto.edu	           ...!{utgpu,utzoo,watmath}!utgpu!cks