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From: jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz (John Bickers)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: The Amiga's Future
Message-ID: <4300.tnews@templar.actrix.gen.nz>
Date: 10 Jun 91 09:21:17 GMT
Article-I.D.: templar.4300.tnews
References: <1991Jun7.233654.24493@news.iastate.edu> <4222.tnews@templar.actrix.gen.nz> <50207@ut-emx.uucp> <8613@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> <1991Jun9.184231.4007@neon.Stanford.EDU>
Organization: TAP, NZAmigaUG.
Lines: 36

Quoted from <1991Jun9.184231.4007@neon.Stanford.EDU> by torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan Torrie):
> barrett@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Dan Barrett) writes:

> >	For example, I can cut text out of my word processor and paste it
> >immediately into my telecommunications program.
> 
>   And so can I.  In fact, I've been able to do it since early 1985 with
> Switcher, before the Amiga even came out.

    This is one area where I think application control languages like
    ARexx move a step forward from the standard multitasking scenario.

    Imagine hitting a key to have a buffer pulled in from your comms
    program into your editor, where you can edit to your heart's
    content, then send it back to the comms program in an orderly
    fashion.

    It turns a collection of ARexx capable programs into a collection
    of compatible application level tools. I think it's fairly non-
    trivial to set up this kind of control, but it's also a big point
    behind having it.

    Fairly solid software exists that will allow you to control software
    that is NOT ARexx compatible by giving you ARexx control over system
    input events, so you can issue a command that will select a
    particular menu item then click on a particular gadget, as if the
    user was doing these things.

    Sort of like the Amiga stepping further out in front, as the other
    machines catch up to plain multitasking or attemts at such. I
    wonder how it (Rexx) will fare with OS/2.

> Evan Torrie.  Stanford University, Class of 199?       torrie@cs.stanford.edu   
--
*** John Bickers, TAP, NZAmigaUG.        jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz ***
***         "Endless variations, make it all seem new" - Devo.          ***