Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!cs.utexas.edu!natinst!rpp386!mgodwin
From: mgodwin@rpp386.cactus.org (Mike Godwin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Text file madness on the Mac.
Message-ID: <17586@rpp386.cactus.org>
Date: 7 Jan 90 09:38:04 GMT
References: <2706@aecom.yu.edu> <5900@ncar.ucar.edu> <1998@eric.mpr.ca> <5915@ncar.ucar.edu> <8315@cbnewsm.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: mgodwin@rpp386.cactus.org (Mike Godwin)
Distribution: na
Organization: The Center for Weird Studies
Lines: 52

In article <8315@cbnewsm.ATT.COM> mls@cbnewsm.ATT.COM (mike.siemon) writes:
>
>The example of reading an arbitrary file is just that, an example of a
>much larger general problem.  If I have a file I may want to use it in
>a number of different ways, totally unconstrained by the file's origin
>or by my intentions when I create the file.
>
>[Some text deleted]
>May I point out that 5 years after the introduction of the Mac, it's still
>regarded as a neat new commercial utility, heavily advertised in the pages
>of the Mac rags, to have something that can actually *open* any given file.
>Sure there are lots of ways to do this, some quite old.  What is bizarre
>is the *need* for it.
>
>[More text deleted]
>The Mac is wonderful for all sorts of one-off, custom jury-rigged situations
>and for a small set of highly stylized standard applications.  What it is
>*very* bad at is generalization and abstraction -- areas where one has to
>step *outside* the details and deal with them "algebraically" (as in the
>regular expression matching of filenames or of text in a file or of patterns
>of output in the intermediate stages of a complex operation.)

Maybe I'm not understanding your argument, but it seems to me that the specific
complaints about Mac text handling that you detail here are equally problems
in the DOS world. Moving among word-processing file formats under MS-DOS is   
equally non-trivial.

If you're simply comparing Macs to UNIX systems, I'd have to agree with you 
in general. But it's worth noting that much of the inter-application file
compatibility in the world of UNIX text and word processing is based on the
fact that (as far as my limited knowledge goes), there are relatively few
proprietary file formats in the UNIX world. (I suppose that may change as
the number of desktop UNIX installations increases.)

Your mention of regular-expression matching of filenames reminds me of an
issue someone else raised in the course of these threads: the organization
of files by filename extensions. These can be easily done on the Mac, for
those who genuinely have a need to do it--just put the extension at the 
*beginning* of the filename. Then view the disk or directory contents by 
name--they'll be grouped by (prefix) extension and alpha ordered within 
the group. The files within a group can then be moved, deleted, opened, or
whatever with standard mouse movements or their keyboard equivalents.


--Mike


-- 
Mike Godwin   UT Law School  | "... and first I put my arms around him yes  
mgodwin@rpp386.cactus.org    |  and drew him down to me so he could feel my   
(512) 346-4190               |  breasts all perfume yes and his heart was      
cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!mgodwin |  going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes."