Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!haven!uvaarpa!mcnc!ecsvax!dukeac!bet
From: bet@dukeac.UUCP (Bennett Todd)
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: Re: Wanted: minimal EMACS in C
Message-ID: <1322@dukeac.UUCP>
Date: 27 Mar 89 19:49:58 GMT
References: <2200001@uxg.cso.uiuc.edu> <1307@dukeac.UUCP> <618@gonzo.UUCP>
Reply-To: bet@dukeac.UUCP (Bennett Todd)
Organization: Radiology, Duke Med. Center, Durham, NC
Lines: 34

In article <618@gonzo.UUCP> daveb@gonzo.UUCP (Dave Brower) writes:
>In article <1307@dukeac.UUCP> bet@orion.mc.duke.edu (Bennett Todd) writes:
>>Here's what I'd really love to see in an emacs(3):
>>
>>	char *emacs(buff, fp, rows, cols, gotoxy)
>>	char *buff; /* buffer to be edited, lines separated w/ \n, may be
>>	               realloc()-ed */
>>	FILE *fp; /* file pointer for terminal I/O */
>>	int rows; /* height of terminal or window */
>>	int cols; /* width of terminal or window */
>>	void (*gotoxy)(int x, int y); /* scoot to x, y */
>
>Since you aren't providing a TERM, and it's already going to have to do
>fileno(fp) games to set the tty modes, then you don't need to provide
>rows and cols.  What is the gotoxy function supposed to do?  My god, are
>you saying that the screen output primitives are 'position cursor' and
>'write chars?'  Eek!

I guess I should have said more (or less:-). Yup, the only screen output
primatives are 'position cursor' and 'write chars'. I don't care about editing
binary files, or multiple files, or any of that; emacs(3) shouldn't put up a
status line, it needn't support multiple windows or buffers or file I/O; it is
just to allow field data entry for multiple-line free-format text fields using
a possibly familiar set of full-screen editing commands. In this context I
really don't think performance is an issue, just simplicity. To pop up a
separate EMACS to edit the text, you need to either turn over the whole
screen, or implement a full pty-based subwindow with screen control. To
interface to the above routine all you need to do is set aside a rectangular
subset of the screen and implement gotoxy() -- vastly simpler. What I am
hoping for here is something slightly more pleasant to type at than fgets(),
and little more complicated to add to an application.

-Bennett
bet@orion.mc.duke.edu