Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!rutgers!iuvax!bsu-cs!mithomas
From: mithomas@bsu-cs.UUCP (Michael Thomas Niehaus)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: Single Character Input in VAX/VMS
Message-ID: <2438@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Date: 22 Mar 88 16:31:22 GMT
References: <8803220235.AA25151@jade.berkeley.edu>
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana
Lines: 37
Summary: Sure the BASIC inkey routine is slow but...

In article <8803220235.AA25151@jade.berkeley.edu>, RWMIRA01@ULKYVX.BITNET (Rob Miracle) writes:
> 2) The BASIC INKEY function is horridly slow (as is the rest of VAX-11 BASIC.
>    It is also a new function to BASIC 4.2 (I beleive).  Sites with an earlier
>    version do not have that luxury.
First, who cares if the function is slow.  The use for such a function should
be something like getting a menu choice or some other interactive, simple 
application.  It would not be suitable to, say, write an editor in Pascal.
A half second doesn't really matter.  Would you cease to use a terminal 
because it didn't couldn't write a screen of output in a second because it
was too slow?

> 3) The screen management facilities are also a little annoying to use because
>    a) the perform the same parsing as INKEY and

What if you want parsing?  Most people do not like to work with escape codes and
the such.

>    b) you have to define a virtual keyboard  to use SMG$READ_KEYSTROKE.
>    From my experience as a System Programmer on a VMS system prior to my current
>    job of being a computer bozo, I found a small MACRO routine is far easier to
>    comprehend than SMG.

I whole-hearted agree that MACRO is much easier to implement than SMG.  But you
are a systems programmer, so you are biased to MACRO.  Although I too personally
hate SMG routines...

[C program deleted]
> This should wet the appetite for those not interested in MACRO.
Amen.

> |Rob Miracle              | Bitnet    : RWMIRA01@ULKYVX or RWMIRA01@ULKYVM    
> |Programmer/Analyst-II    | CompuServe: 74216,3134                            
> |University of Louisville | GEnie Mail: MIRACLERW                             

Michael Niehaus
Ball State University
UUCP: ..{uunet,pur-ee,iuvax}!bsu-cs!mithomas