jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F Haugh II) (07/01/91)
In article <1831@sranha.sra.co.jp> erik@srava.sra.co.jp (Erik M. van der Poel) writes: >How about trying to spec it out as much as possible, and then >implementing a few prototypes without letting end-users get their >hands on them? NO! That's the whole point behind market-driven design. If you release three or four designs into a free market, the market will pick which one it likes best. It often picks designs some of us can't stand (MS-DOS), but in theory, it won't warmly embrace a total loser just because you or I think it is a wonderful design. Try not to lose sight of why programmers program - it isn't for their own personal joy and self-satisfaction - it is so their employers can convince users to buy the product to pay the programmer's salaries. -- John F. Haugh II | Distribution to | UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh Ma Bell: (512) 255-8251 | GEnie PROHIBITED :-) | Domain: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org "UNIX signals are not interrupts. Worse, SIGCHLD/SIGCLD is not even a UNIX signal, it's an abomination." -- Doug Gwyn
jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F Haugh II) (07/01/91)
In article <1833@sranha.sra.co.jp> erik@srava.sra.co.jp (Erik M. van der Poel) writes: >John F Haugh II writes: >> What do you propose "grep" do with the infinite number of metadata items >> that "data" could have associated with it? > >Well, grep won't even see any metadata if it calls open(). I think you just insured that your proposal is pretty useless if you aren't going to have utilities such as grep know about your wonderful metadata. Should grep know that grepping for text in a text file means something different from grepping for text in a database file? >> Programs that only take LRELC=60 text files don't know what to do with >> an LRECL=80 text file. > >If you are referring to fixed record length files, you have missed the >point completely. No, I've not missed the point. It doesn't matter if the attribute is "ACCESS=keyed" versus "ACCESS=sequential" or "LRECL=variable" or whatever. Once you start allowing =different= values for your different attributes, any program that deals with that attribute has to be capable for dealing with all known values of that attribute. Users will rapidly tire of commands that understand "keyed" and "sequential" but not "random" (or some other example you will completely miss). >> What makes you think UNIX could ever get it right? > >What makes you think UNIX could ever get anything wrong? Gee, I don't know. To name a topic on everyones mind right now - how about job control? -- John F. Haugh II | Distribution to | UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh Ma Bell: (512) 255-8251 | GEnie PROHIBITED :-) | Domain: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org "UNIX signals are not interrupts. Worse, SIGCHLD/SIGCLD is not even a UNIX signal, it's an abomination." -- Doug Gwyn