Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!mcdchg!nud!sunburn!gtx!al From: al@gtx.com (0732) Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: where to do line editing? Message-ID: <678@gtx.com> Date: 12 Jul 88 15:18:28 GMT Reply-To: al@gtx.UUCP (Al Filipski) Organization: GTX Corporation, Phoenix Lines: 24 Ksh is a wonderful thing, no argument about that, and the best thing about it is the history/command line editing feature. I can't help wondering, though, if the shell is the best place for it (the editing feature). Putting it in the kernel (e.g. stty vi, like stty cooked) would give a uniform interface to all programs. I know, it is contrary to the "UNIX Philosophy" to put user interface in the kernel, but that would be sooo nice and the stty features have been creeping in that direction anyway. Alternatively, a library might be provided, like curses, that gave the user a routine to fetch the next (history-edited) input line. This solution is more of a pain to the programmer, since he has to look up the calling sequence, explicitly program it in, etc. and the user can't depend on it being done uniformly everywhere. Comments, flames? Anybody done it, meant to do it, thought about it, rejected it? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ( Alan Filipski, GTX Corp, 8836 N. 23rd Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85021, USA ) ( {ihnp4,cbosgd,decvax,hplabs,amdahl,nsc}!sun!sunburn!gtx!al (602)870-1696 ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~