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From: mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (Don't have strength to leave) Meyer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Proposal for an Amiga Shell
Message-ID: <2106@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Wed, 7-Jan-87 03:11:37 EST
Article-I.D.: jade.2106
Posted: Wed Jan  7 03:11:37 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 7-Jan-87 18:44:34 EST
References: <8701031030.AA23133@cory.Berkeley.EDU>
Sender: usenet@jade.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (Don't have strength to leave) Meyer)
Organization: Missionaria Phonibalonica
Lines: 48

In article <8701031030.AA23133@cory.Berkeley.EDU> dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) writes:
>	For Sure, it's cute, but not completely practical.  Customization 
>Aside, my major complaint about such a system is simply that it's too
>cluttered.   Three windows?  One of the several terminal programs I wrote
>had two windows ... a 'terminal' window and a 'command' window, and I can
>tell you that I got rather tired of the 'command' window.  

Actually, normal use would have two windows - the input window and one
of the two flavors of output window. That may be an annoyance; have to
try it and see. I can't really see how it would be much worse than say
dpaint with the menu/gadget bar.

>	keywords also slows me down... I don't want to be forced to type
>long drawn out english keywords for commands.  Shell's were never meant
>to be user friendly.

That's why the shell will autocomplete keywords for you. Of course,
you can also just customize things so you get positional parameters
for everything. Even commands that REQUIRE keywords; you'd say:

	required from keword "from="

in the ms.description file, and the shell would supply the keyword for
you. I thought I explained that in the paper.

>	So I think maybe it would make a good idiot-box.  As far as I'm
>concerned it goes into my "It works in Theory, but not in practice" folder.

Probably correct. I'd like to see people who are doing shells start
thinking about such things, though. Zing is the only thing I know of
that really tried. Gotta see about getting a copy of it to play with
sometime soon.

Of course, if I get done with all the other interesting-looking things
I want to do, or get motivated, I may sit down and do the thing myself
anyway.

>Oh, P.S. I am definately *NOT* saying that my Shell is real, it isn't.
>I have yet to see any shell that efficiently integrates keyboard, mouse, and
>graphics screen with the power of shell scripts, aliases, and file/command
>completion.

I didn't think your shell did file/command completion. Ms has aliases,
and maybe a little better. Shell scripts (even to the level of the v6
shell) it don't got. Gotta consider how to do that kind of thing....

	Thanx,