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From: peter@sugar.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: AREXX and ICP
Message-ID: <838@sugar.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 30-Sep-87 08:58:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: sugar.838
Posted: Wed Sep 30 08:58:43 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Oct-87 02:24:41 EDT
References: <267@mitsumi.UUCP> <3939@well.UUCP> <20098UH2@PSUVM> <28070@sun.uucp> <2391@cbmvax.UUCP>
Organization: Sugar Land UNIX - Houston, TX
Lines: 28
Summary: The problem is...

The last thing the Amiga needs is another programming environment, with more
hooks that people have to make to their programs if they want them to be
competitive. One of the things Apple did right was force developers to stick
to the standard user interface. The Amiga has two standard interfaces right
now: the workbench, and the CLI. I like this, although I think that it could
have been done without forcing two programming environments on people (yes, I
know something about the history behind it and understand that there really
wasn't much in the way of alternatives).

In any case people should be encouraged to develop tools and applications that
fit in with the existing CLI and Workbench unless there's an overriding reason
not to. REXX as a script language is probably really useful for some people...
maybe even me. REXX as a new programming environment with custom ports and
stuff is overkill. REXX as a device (REXX:) is better. It's still not perfect,
because maybe other scripting languages would be better for other people (icon,
or awk, or sed, or...). What's wrong with a CLI:?

Finally I think people at C=, and C= in all its corporate glory, should be
discouraging people from making the Amiga even more of a mishmash of operating
systems than it is. While encouraging people to develop standard tools and
applications that fit well together, of course.

Instead of discouraging people who are trying to keep what conceptual
integrity remains intact.

da Silva's law #2^n-1: don't be different just for the sake of being different.
-- 
-- Peter da Silva  `-_-'  ...!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter
-- Disclaimer: These U aren't mere opinions... these are *values*.