dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) (09/23/86)
You could impliment mouse base piping through multiple commands You could impliment mouse base redirection You could impliment command line options via the mouse But did anyone take the time to think how long it would take to setup a typical UNIX command line? cat /etc/passwd | sort -r +2 -Hit the 'cat' icon, the PIPE icon the SORT icon -cat runs ... asks for a file name. Enter the filename or have some sort of browser w/ the mouse -sort runs, asks for options (After all, we want to sort the third field and have the output in reverse order) Thank you, I'll stick with a shell. I don't see how anyone could make a usable enviroment out of that if it took 5 minutes to set up every command. And don't give me any s&%t about 'impliment aliases'. I use aliases extensively, but a lot of the stuff I type is diverse enough not to be practical to put in an alias. The only reasonable interface you could cook up for the MAC would necessarily be a simplistic one. -Matt
hogan@rosevax.UUCP (Andy Hogan) (09/26/86)
In article <8609230602.AA13387@cory.Berkeley.EDU>, dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) writes: > But did anyone take the time to think how long it would take to > setup a typical UNIX command line? > > cat /etc/passwd | sort -r +2 > > -Hit the 'cat' icon, the PIPE icon, the SORT icon > -cat runs ... asks for a file name. Enter the filename or have > some sort of browser w/ the mouse > -sort runs, asks for options (After all, we want to sort the third > field and have the output in reverse order) > > Thank you, I'll stick with a shell. I don't see how anyone could > make a usable enviroment out of that if it took 5 minutes to set up > every command. The only reasonable interface you could cook up > for the MAC would necessarily be a simplistic one. It takes more than 5 minutes to set up that kind of process for a new UNIX user. Experience counts much more strongly in UNIX than with a Mac. I've found the learning curve on the Mac very short (not just my experience, which I expected, but non-technical friends' also) but the curve for UNIX to be just slightly short of infinite-- you never really quit learning new techniques. And in business at least, that learning curve time costs big bucks. I think that is one of the big reasons UNIX has not caught on as a general OS. As experience with the Mac grows, I've found, the interface begins to become more of a burden for complex tasks. By that time, command-key equivalents are becoming useful, but they can't address this level of problem, either. I think this is where the option of a command line interface becomes necessary (a la Amiga, and many PC programs which now offer psuedo-menus.) One last note: a Mac UNIX should never, ever blissfully allow: rm -rf * as UNIX will. That is one real strength of the Mac that has been overlooked so far in this discussion-- you have to work harder to make a mistake. -- Notice how they do not so much fly, as plummet. {appropriate head movement} --Monty Python (Flying Sheep Sketch) Andy Hogan Rosemount, Inc. Mpls MN path: ...ihnp4!stolaf!umn-cs!mmm!rosevax!hogan