msc@qubix.UUCP (07/19/83)
Job control is a way of handling multiple processes in multiple `contexts' (i.e. foreground, background, etc.). What's wrong with a multi-window terminal for doing exactly the same thing (i.e. leaving things running in one window, the switching to another one to do something else etc. etc. etc.) Again, job control is a BAD way to do the job (just like aliases and history...). Multiple windows are an excellent way of handling multiple processes. Unfortunately, not many users have multiple window terminals. Also, my other objection to job control is that it has massive and painful hooks into the kernel, all to implement a specific end user feature. This seems wrong to me. (What happened to generality, and keeping the kernel small ?) Without having a terminal that has one serial line to the host for each window and the capability of switching its keyboard input to a given window (or multiple keyboards) it's hard to see how to have one window per process without support in the kernel. I know. I'm designing a window system right now. Besides the support in the kernel is not massive. It is only a new tty driver that tests for some additional special characters and generates some new signals from them. -- Mark ...{decvax,ucbvax}!decwrl!qubix!msc ...ittvax!qubix!msc ...ihnp4!amd70!qubix!msc decwrl!qubix!msc@Berkeley.ARPA