Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!ihlpf!straka
From: straka@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Straka)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Mac Interface v. "Command Line" interface debates
Message-ID: <7133@ihlpf.ATT.COM>
Date: 5 Jan 89 14:10:48 GMT
References: <15213@mimsy.UUCP>
Reply-To: straka@ihlpf.UUCP (55223-Straka,R.J.)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 68

In article <15213@mimsy.UUCP> folta@tove.umd.edu.UUCP writes:
>There are several threads swirling around the Mac interface issue, so I
>may be confused, but I think we might need to clarify what we mean by
>"command line interface", as somehow opposed to the Mac interface.
>
>2. Having a UNIX-like shell.
>
>But issue 2 is involved.  Obviously, a shell command-line interface is
>useful for certain, concrete reasons.  What are they?  Maybe we could get
>some concrete comments here, beyond "It is faster" (e.g. what is meant
>by "it"?).
>
>At work/school, I have used UNIX on platforms from Suns to Crays.  At
>home, I have owned an IBM and an Amiga, but I now use Macintosh
>exclusively.  My observations are:
>
>1. The shell allows you to "move" faster, e.g. with
>   "cd /usr/folta/src/proj1".  You don't have to move from folder to
>   folder, as on the Mac.
Setting $CDPATH is a real help, too. (minor point)
>
>2. The shell allows you to have shell scripts, which automate repetitive
>   tasks.

This is the real advantage,  but not only repetitive tasks can be automated.
The Bourne and Korn shells give you full programmability with control
flow constructs, the ability to pass parameters, functions, IPC, recursion,
the ability to fake keyboard input where needed (with some restrictions), the
ability to modify your OS environment, ...

I have seen the shell used as a prototyping environment for entire projects.
For quick, effective hacks, it is quite powerful, especially when hacking
around automated edits on tabular data, ...

For these reasons, I consider the MS-DOS command line interface "All the arcane
syntax that UNIX gives you, but with none of the power."

>
>3. The shell allows you to use pipes.  E.g.
>   "cat x y z | sort  | uniq | pr | lpr".

Yes, the concept of generalized IO (stdio and named pipes) offers a wealth of
options for hacking on data.  The uses are not limited to printing either.

For instance, I use the 2 following (and not too conceptually hairy, either)
shell scripts to log the disk space on my login's file system once per day
(from within my .profile), and then plot it out (on request only) on
VersaTerm's 4014-graphics emulator.  This sort of thing can be incredibly
powerful.

(note: PARNAME is the name of your login's file system.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
#rdfout: plot free disk space with time
cut -c35-40 $HOME/misc/${PARNAME}rdf.out|plot |td

#rdflog: log free space in login's file system
if grep "`date '+%h \{1,\}%d'|tr -d "[0*1]"`" $HOME/misc/${PARNAME}rdf.out 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null
then
	echo
else
	date >>$HOME/misc/${PARNAME}rdf.out
	df|grep ${1}|tee rdf.tmp;cat rdf.tmp >>$HOME/misc/${PARNAME}rdf.out;rm rdf.tmp
fi
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-- 
Rich Straka     att!ihlpf!straka

Avoid BrainDamage: MSDOS - just say no!