Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 beta 3/9/83; site cae780.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!hpda!fortune!amd70!cae780!chuqui From: chuqui@cae780.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) Newsgroups: net.cog-eng,net.nlang Subject: Re: expert-friendly: are long names a waste of time? Message-ID: <141@cae780.UUCP> Date: Thu, 10-Nov-83 13:16:50 EST Article-I.D.: cae780.141 Posted: Thu Nov 10 13:16:50 1983 Date-Received: Sun, 13-Nov-83 14:11:58 EST References: <4063@amd70.UUCP> Organization: CAESystems, Inc. Sunnyvale Lines: 27 Phil brought up an interesting point about chmod: the reason its the way it is is because it was easier for the programmer to write it that way. This may have been appropriate when resources were scanty and users were experts (and I doubt if the latter was ever REALLY true. technically oriented, maybe) but now it seems like pure laziness to me. As far as chmod is concerned, you don't need to worry about reading all of the files before getting to the mode... When you start parsing parameters you pull off the last one for the mode and then use the rest for filenames. Presto - no worry about numeric files, and parameter parsing is not changed significantly, yet chmod now works as some people say it should (I have fallen into 'chmod file mode' more than once, but I don't know if that is a preferable syntax or not. Personally, most of Unix's syntax is painful...). Now, to take chmod one step further, to properly implement it the command should look something like this: chmod ... where you can change modes in midstream. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to do a group of somethings to files and have had to invoke chmod multiple times in a row.... -- From the dungeons of the warlock: amd70!cae780!chuqui Chuqui the Plaid *pif*