Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!uw-june!uw-entropy!dataio!pilchuck!ssc!mcgp1!fst From: fst@mcgp1.UUCP (Skip Tavakkolian) Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: Re: where to do line editing? Summary: Maybe it is time for new data abstractions. Message-ID: <1495@mcgp1.UUCP> Date: 4 Aug 88 04:49:00 GMT References: <678@gtx.com> <593@blblbl.UUCP> <8263@brl-smoke.ARPA> <611@tub.UUCP> <8296@smoke.ARPA> Organization: Computer Tools Int'l Inc. Lines: 22 In article <8296@smoke.ARPA>, gwyn@smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) writes: > In article <611@tub.UUCP> net@tub.UUCP (Oliver Laumann) writes: > >The terminal does not know what a `word' is. > So teach it. I will take this opportune moment to drag this discussion in a new direction. I have been thinking about possible solutions to a similar problem after I heard a keynote speech by Steve Johnson at a Usenix conference a few years ago. He asked what would pipes be (take the place of pipes) in the context of icons. I believe some of that is being answered with the wide acceptance of C++. I also believe it would require another data abstraction, perhaps as widely accepted as the 8-bit-byte, that would have the ability to carry more information about a phenomenon or an entity. Maybe it is time to start thinking about what kind of standard that could be. Sincerely -- Fariborz ``Skip'' Tavakkolian UUCP ...!uw-beaver!tikal!mcgp1!fst UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T