Xref: utzoo comp.os.vms:9376 comp.unix.wizards:11735 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cbmvax!snark!eric From: eric@snark.UUCP (Eric S. Raymond) Newsgroups: comp.os.vms,comp.unix.wizards Subject: Re: File specification regularity Message-ID: Date: 12 Oct 88 14:45:25 GMT References: <3981@enea.se> Organization: Erisian Liberation Front Lines: 28 In article <3981@enea.se>, sommar@enea.se (Erland Sommarskog) writes: > On the other hand, on VMS you can do the following: > DEFINE/TRANSLATION=CONCEALED NEWS_ROOT SYS$SYSROOT: > (This may be the wrong syntax. My apoligies if so.) Does anyone else see the funny here? The VMS syntax is so flinkin' obscure that you can't be sure you've got it right. Compare the alphabet-soup VMS command above with the more-or-less equivalent UNIX link invocation: ln /usr/bin/utils/anunews /newsroot Now: which would *you* rather wake up next to? :-) In a less facetious vein: which of the above requires less mental parsing, fewer interpretation rules with fewer exception cases? *This* is what Dave Arnold was getting at. Arguing that VMS's baroque syntax supports a feature UNIX doesn't isn't an appropriate counter, especially when you're wrong ;-). > Thus, you can't be sure that every utility you use will understand > $NEWS_ROOT, in which case you have to remember the entire path. > (I may be totally wrong about Unix here. If so, please correct me.) This is exactly what UNIX links are for, especially BSD-style symbolic links (which AT&T is supposedly including in 4.0). -- Eric S. Raymond (the mad mastermind of TMN-Netnews) UUCP: ...!{uunet,att,rutgers}!snark!eric = eric@snark.UUCP Post: 22 S. Warren Avenue, Malvern, PA 19355 Phone: (215)-296-5718