Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!sri-unix!quintus!ok From: ok@quintus.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: Re: Command interfaces Message-ID: <436@cresswell.quintus.UUCP> Date: Sat, 5-Dec-87 01:10:09 EST Article-I.D.: cresswel.436 Posted: Sat Dec 5 01:10:09 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 9-Dec-87 06:33:17 EST References: <1257@boulder.Colorado.EDU> <6840002@hpcllmv.HP.COM> <9555@mimsy.UUCP> <802@rocky.STANFORD.EDU> Organization: Quintus Computer Systems, Mountain View, CA Lines: 34 Summary: misunderstanding In article <432@cresswell.quintus.UUCP> I said of the **TOPS-10** command line parser SCAN/WILD that 1> The snag was that 1> ordinary programmers never heard about it (the system calls 1> manual didn't mention it because it wasn't a system call, In article <802@rocky.STANFORD.EDU>, andy@rocky.STANFORD.EDU (Andy Freeman) said 2> The TOPS-20 command parser I referred to is the COMND% system call. 2> It's in the JSYS manual with every other system call. I was talking about TOPS-10 at that point, not TOPS-20, as I think the text made clear. I tried for two years to get a copy of the SCAN/WILD documentation for TOPS-10. (This was several years ago.) By the way, there IS a UNIX library package for parsing command lines (*after* file-name expansion has been done by the shell). It's called getopt. There is a getopt(3) for C programs to call, and a getopt(1) for sh scripts to call. This is a System V feature, but the version I use is a public-domain version written by Henry Spencer and sent to net.sources in 1984. "man -k option" or "man -k command" will tell you about it. System V release 3 has a souped-up version called getopts(). I last used TOPS-20 about 4 years ago. I must say that I very much liked the command interface: I accessed the machine infrequently over a slow network and didn't have any TOPS-20 manuals. Being forced to stay a novice, I was *very* pleased with the prompts, completion &c. But typingat a program that wasn't expecting it wasn't always a good idea... VMS and TOPS-20 have a number of similarities: a comparison from someone who has used both a lot would be illuminating. --------------------------------------------------- Timesharing (n): an access method whereby one computer uses many people. --- IBM definition.