[net.emacs] Mail reading and EMACS & UNIX philos

preece@uicsl.UUCP (05/18/84)

#R:sri-arpa:-18500:uicsl:21900006:000:639
uicsl!preece    May 18 00:01:00 1984

I have a constant battle with myself, in designing software for
Unix, over where to draw the line between purity and performance.
Storing everything in flat ascii files in normal Unix directories
is a very flexible approach, but it also makes it much harder to
build a mail system that you can enter and leave fast enough,
which is to say, virtually instantly.  I hate to admit it, but
I don't like programs that can't fill the screen instantly upon
invocation, and a mail program is an especially galling example
because its very nature is to be entered and exited frequently
throughout the day.

scott preece
ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!preece