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From: guy@rlgvax.UUCP (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: net.cog-eng
Subject: Re: standards, tools, history: options=?
Message-ID: <1826@rlgvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 24-Mar-84 19:33:59 EST
Article-I.D.: rlgvax.1826
Posted: Sat Mar 24 19:33:59 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 25-Mar-84 13:38:09 EST
References: <46@circe.UUCP>
Organization: CCI Office Systems Group, Reston, VA
Lines: 35

> And anyways, you wouldn't want to give up bundling options, would you?

The main cost of bundling options is that options can only be one character
in length.  This means 1) that option names, at best, are a bit cryptic, and
2) at worst, you either have to pick *very* cryptic names as you run out of
letters or you have to go to other schemes if you need a lot of options -
admittedly, a command with more than 52 options is probably overdesigned
and/or overwritten.  The main benefit of bundling options is that it
cuts the number of times you have to hit the space bar.  Frankly, I'm used
to bundling options, but if I were starting from scratch I wouldn't put
in a feature which confined me to one-letter option names now and forever,
world without end, amen.  In this case, I think the tradeoff favors not
supporting bundling options.

While we're on the topic, though, the argument against "=" to indicate options
and values can be countered by mentioning the DEC standard command language,
where there is an "option indicator" character ("/" in DEC-land, which would be
a poor choice in UNIX-land for obvious reasons - DEC's pathname syntax is
just flat *UGLY*) and an "=" to indicate option arguments.

I.e.

FOO/MUMBLE/OINK=PIG BLETCH.C/WIDTH=132

which could be done in UNIX-land as

foo -mumble -oink=pig bletch.c -width=132

or somesuch.  (Also note that the DEC command language ties options to
specific tokens on the command line - either the command itself or its
arguments.)  (Further note, by the way, that "=" is an un-shifted key on
non-TTY-style keyboards, at least, and is right next to the "-" key.)

	Guy Harris
	{seismo,ihnp4,allegra}!rlgvax!guy