crandell@ut-sally.UUCP (09/09/83)
Complete and *obligatory* terseness is *not* a virtue. The
pre-UNIX/TS "ed" which had *no way* of explaining an error message
was not the right way to do things, 300 baud terminal or no....
If you have to look at the past 20 lines of output to figure out
why something went wrong (i.e., because a program is *always*
silent about missing files) that's not a good idea.
The local instance of the program "fortune" recently gave me the following:
Brian Kernighan has an automobile which he helped design.
Unlike most automobiles, it has neither speedometer, nor gas gage, nor
any of the numerous idiot lights which plague the modern driver.
Rather, if the driver makes any mistake, a giant "?" lights up in the
center of the dashboard. "The experienced driver", he says, "will
usually know what's wrong."
Jim ({ihnp4,ut-ngp}!ut-sally!crandell)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors.
("I am only a tool....")