Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uupsi!cci632!ritcsh!ultb!axi0349
From: axi0349@isc.rit.edu (A.X. Ivasyuk )
Subject: Re: Curses?
Message-ID: <1991May2.212052.16181@isc.rit.edu>
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology
References: <1991May1.173724.13975@nevada.edu> <48260@ut-emx.uucp> <1991May2.182227.9742@isc.rit.edu>
Date: Thu, 2 May 91 21:20:52 GMT

In article <1991May2.182227.9742@isc.rit.edu> dmr2386@isc.rit.edu (D.M. Raynault ) writes:
>
>    I've been programming all types of computers for a while now and I
>haven't heard anything about what this 'curses' thing is untill recently
>and then it started poping up where ever I look in source code.  A few notes
>ago someone said that there was a version of it out for the apple iigs.
>
>   First of all what is it?
>   What does it do?
>   And Where can I get it?
>
>						David Raynault
>						dmr2386@rit.edu

  Curses is a screen control library package which originally started out
on unix systems, but migrated to PC's and other machines.  Curses provides
a standard interface for the programmer to access screens.  The reason this
was needed on unix systems is because of the large variety of terminals that
it is possible to hook up with.  Curses uses another library called termcap
to take care of these things on a large variety of terminals.
  I remember reading something about curses for the //gs, but don't know
much about that, since I have a //c myself.  The only context I've heard
curses being used in is a C programming environment.  I've used it myself
here at RIT for a project, and I found it very easy to use.  I got the
documentation for the library from some Sun manuals that I have access to.
  Since the //gs has only one way to access text on the (standard) text
screen, I would think there to be little use for a library such as curses,
especially because it imposes a lot of overhead on the system, but I
can understand there being such a library for portability reasons such as
porting programs from unix.

-Anatole



-- 
Anatoly Ivasyuk @ Computer Science House @ Rochester Institute of Technolgy
       (anatoly@ritcsh.csh.rit.edu) || (axi0349@ultb.isc.rit.edu)