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Path: utzoo!watmath!looking!brad
From: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Newsgroups: net.cog-eng
Subject: Whoever said anything about flag=yes
Message-ID: <141@looking.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 25-Mar-84 00:00:00 EST
Article-I.D.: looking.141
Posted: Sun Mar 25 00:00:00 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 26-Mar-84 20:27:16 EST
References: <1826@rlgvax.UUCP>
Organization: Looking Glass Software, Waterloo, Ont
Lines: 25

Those of us who have been supporting keyword=value options have not
been (to my knowledge) advocating stuff like flag=yes and flag=no to
replace -flag.   The syntax specifications I posted some time ago allow
both keyword=value and +keyword or -keyword for boolean options.

Furthermore, I also want to clarify that an option syntax that allows
long option names usually includes an abbreviator that lets you type
the option in its shortest unambiguous form.  Thus +Verbose can be
type as "+v" on the command line if it is unambiguous.  This allows the
user to type things quickly if he knows what he's doing, and at the
same time allows shell scripts to be written in a more readable fashion.

I've been using unix a great deal for several years, and I still have to
look up options on commands I don't use frequently,  It's even worse when
the option letters change on commands like ps and ls when you switch from
4.2 to SIII as I do frequently.

It's really not a pain to have to type  +a +b +c instead of +abc or -abc.
The space bar is the easiest character to hit, and your finger is already
on the plus.  Anyway, commands with long option strings that are done
a lot are almost always done from shell aliases, scripts or makefiles.
You type new options most often when you are unfamiliar with them, and
that's when mnemonic devices are most useful.
-- 
	Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ontario (519) 886-7304