[net.works] command completion

Larry@sri-unix (07/23/82)

A friend of mine (Mark Matson) designed a graphics editor with a type
of command completion I haven't seen discussed here.  You can type as 
much of the command word as you want.  The command completion occurs
when you type a space or a carriage return.  Then it either fills in
the rest of the word or else complains.  His command set includes a 
lot of multi-word commands.  For example, "Set Origin 45 67" could be 
typed as just "S O 45 67".  With this method, adding new commands can
only cause the user to get "ambiguous abbreviation" warnings, not
accidentally trigger the wrong command.  Also, it allows new users to
type the full commands, which are rather mnemonic, instead of having
to remember the abbreviations.  And, of course, it has the normal 
advantage of command completion - I always know what I've just done.

Larry Seiler
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mclure@SRI-UNIX@sri-unix (07/24/82)

BBN's mail program HERMES for Tops-20/Tenex and my mail program MU for
Unix have had that type of command completion for years.