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From: howard@amdahl.UUCP (Howard C. Simonson)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: Porting UNIX Applications to the Mac
Message-ID: <3762@amdahl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 23-Sep-86 12:36:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: amdahl.3762
Posted: Tue Sep 23 12:36:58 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 23-Sep-86 23:16:38 EDT
References: <8609170521.AA18527@cory.Berkeley.EDU> <1114@hoptoad.uucp> <1117@hoptoad.uucp>
Reply-To: howard@amdahl.UUCP (Howard C. Simonson)
Organization: Amdahl Corp, UTS Products Group
Lines: 31
Keywords: pipes modes
Summary: Methods of visual piping

In article <1117@hoptoad.uucp> tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney) writes:

>                ...There would be a "pipe" icon on the desktop.  Clicking on
> this would create a pipe-shaped icon; selecting application icons would then
> link them together into a piped process sequence.  Finishing the select
> would probably be best accomplished by clicking again on the pipe. Yes, it's
> modal, but modality is not an absolute vice.

It doesn't necessarily have to be modal.  How about a pipe icon on the
desktop into which you drag icons.  When icons are dragged into the pipe
they become small icons, still visible.  As more icons are dragged into
the pipe the pipe may expand to accommodate them.  When the pipe is
constructed to your specifications, a simple double click on the completed
pipe would start the commands in motion.  The concept of seeing the icons
in the pipe is visually pleasing and allows later enhancements to drag
icons back out of the pipe and rearrange them after they have been dragged
into the pipe.  If you desire more pipe icons on the desktop (background
pipes?), a menu command that acts like "New Folder" could be used to
create a new pipe "device" on the desktop; or it could be a finder param
in the LAYO resource, number of pipes on desktop.

The non-modal part is the ability to construct and remember partial pipe
constructions over other events and program executions.  (Requires some
temp space on the part of the finder )

Comments?
-- 
I have no technical challenges,                              Howard C. Simonson
 just political ones.                ...{dragon,hplabs,ihnp4,nsc}!amdahl!howard

[ Opinion?   What opinion!?    I think you have the wrong guy... ]