Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: job control is a bug, not a feature
Message-ID: <1989Jun7.224933.700@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <16497@louie.udel.EDU> <11989@bcsaic.UUCP> <2775@munnari.oz> <798@gara.une.oz> <8167@boring.cwi.nl>
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 89 22:49:33 GMT

In article <8167@boring.cwi.nl> roberto@cwi.nl (Rob ten Kroode) writes:
>I asked Andy some advise, and he told me that he didn't like the idea of 
>job control in Minix...

Job control is a stupid, poorly-thought-out, ass-backwards excuse for a
window system.  It's mostly just a way of interacting with multiple
processes.  Window systems do it much better, since they provide central
control of output as well as input, and if done well, it is transparent
to user programs (instead of requiring ugly hacks in each and every one).

No, you do not need a bitmapped display to do a window system.

One of my bigger regrets is that after Ian Darwin and I succeeded in
getting job control excluded from the /usr/group Unix interface standard,
I got busy with other things and didn't keep a sharp eye on POSIX (which
started from the /usr/group standard)... and job control, slimy tentacles
and all, slithered back in when I wasn't watching.

If anyone is interested, I think I still have the scathing commentary on
job control that Ian and I did at the time.
-- 
You *can* understand sendmail, |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
but it's not worth it. -Collyer| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu