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Path: utzoo!linus!security!genrad!grkermit!masscomp!clyde!ihnp4!fortune!rpw3
From: rpw3@fortune.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.cog-eng
Subject: Re: Re: long names and hardware... - (nf)
Message-ID: <1960@fortune.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 14-Dec-83 04:02:09 EST
Article-I.D.: fortune.1960
Posted: Wed Dec 14 04:02:09 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 16-Dec-83 01:45:23 EST
Sender: notes@fortune.UUCP
Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA
Lines: 65

#R:pyuxa:-41000:fortune:29300001:000:2289
fortune!rpw3    Dec 13 22:18:00 1983

One of the things we tried to be careful about in our keyboard design
was to make sure that all of the function keys were legal UNIX commands
when typed to a shell (yes!). Since the function keys are triplets of
{Ctrl-A,<letter>,CR}, and since ^A as part of a name is o.k., we won.
Other terminals such as Tv 950's do similar stuff.

Sooo, if you find yourself doing something a lot, or if you are setting
up your secretary or a casual-user friend, you run "mkcmd <fcn key>",
which runs 'mkcmd' with the first two chars of the key as an arg.

'mkcmd' is:

	case X$1 in
	X)	echo 'usage: "mkcmd file" or
	"mkcmd dir/file" (default dir=$HOME/bin) or
	"mkcmd <function key>"'
		exit
		;;
	X*/*)	file=$1
		;;
	*)	file=$HOME/bin/$1
		;;
	esac
	$EDITOR $file
	exec chmod a+x $file

When you exit from the editor, you can then use <fcn key> to invoke the
script you just wrote. ('mkcmd' is also useful for text words, like "mkcmd foo")
'Csh' aliases can also be used, if you prefer.

Now I am NOT saying this is God's gifty to anybody, but think... How many
common operations do you do at your "desk", anyway? How many does "casual
user" do? For me,

	F1 = clearscreen (terminal deliberately has no clear key)
	F2 = mail (and fancy handling thereof)
	     (Shifted-F2 = print batches of saved mail, running through
	      sed to get one page per, etc, etc)
	F3 = readnews/notes (etc.)
	F4 = prompt (with echo/read's) for who and subj, then fire
	     up $EDITOR in $HOME/memo/$who/$date.$subj with the standard
	     intracompany memo form in the buffer already

	F9 = mount a floppy and show directory
	F10 = show directory and dismount floppy

That covers about 95% of the actual "desk" time I use outside of editors.
For my boss's secretary, F2 alone covers 98%.

I may not have made my point very well, and this is NOT an attempt to
incite flames, but discussion. I am seriously concerned about "human
engineering", but it seems that we have not even defined the problem
very well.  Fancy hardware will never make complicated jobs easy. Time
and motion study of the office still has a place. The 90/10 rule is
still valid.

Rob Warnock

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