Re: Announcing Viewglob 2.0

liljencrantz_at_gmail.com
Date: 04/30/05

  • Next message: Alan Connor: "Re: Announcing Viewglob 2.0" 
    Date: 30 Apr 2005 02:55:45 -0700

    Stephen Bach wrote:
    > Hi Axel,
    >
    > liljencrantz@gmail.com wrote:
    > > Nice work! I think this is a problem that has been solved in a
    great
    > > number of ways without one that is good enough to replace all the
    > > others. Viewglob, The zsh solution provided by Stéphane Chazleas,
    and
    > > even "graphical shells" like mc are mostly different solution to
    mostly
    > > the same problem, but with different drawbacks. In my own shell,
    fish
    > > (http://roo.no-ip.org/fish/), I solved parts of the same problem by
    > > adding a keyboard shortcut for listing the contents of the
    directory
    > > over the cursor. If the user presses Meta-l while the cursor is
    over a
    > > directory, the contents of that directory will be printed. If the
    > > cursor is over a filepath that is not a directory, the parent
    directory
    > > is used. If the parent is not a directory, the contents of the
    current
    > > working directory is printed. I like that solution since it is
    really
    > > simple (Exactly one line of code, and about ten lines of
    > > documentation), and since it uses ls internaly, the format will be
    > > familiar. I'm sure this could be implemented in zsh as well.
    > >
    > > But using a standalone graphical program like you have opens up a
    huge
    > > number of possibilities. If one where to implement such features
    inside
    > > of the terminal emulator, even more possibilities open up. If
    terminal
    > > emulators would come out of the stoneage, modern shells and ncurses
    > > applications could provide tooltip-like automatic completion
    > > suggestions, a statusbar, a menu item to launch the default
    application
    > > for any filename written in the terminal, and loads of other things
    > > provided by graphical filemanagers. Another nice thing would be if
    the
    > > shell could access the output of the screen and of earlier
    commands, so
    > > that one could use a variable like $ans to refer to the output of
    the
    > > last command to complete. Obviously, all these features would have
    to
    > > be provided in a backward compatible manner, so terminal
    applications
    > > would fail gracefully on missing features.
    >
    > I think you've got some great ideas. The problem of course is
    > getting users to want to have these new features - what's currently
    > available works "well enough". I wonder how many people read your
    > article and cringed at the mention of tooltip-style completion and
    > default application launching. This is not a healthy reaction, IMO.
    > Just because the Unix shells and terminals are expert tools doesn't
    > mean they need to seem so forbidding.

    Yes, the initial reaction of many knowledgable Unix people seems to be
    that they know that things are broken, but they are used to it and have
    learned to work around it. And therefore things should stay the same.

    This reminds me of an expression I once heard:

    A fool tries to change the world, a wise man knows it is impossible.
    Therefore only a fool can change the world.

    > I bet once a powerful command line driven interface on a competing
    > operating system becomes available (with some or all of the features
    > you described), Unix folks will open up a little.

    What you say implies that the Unix and Open source world is not only
    _bad_ at inovating, it is downright innovation hostile. I hope this is
    not true.

    > BTW, I spent some time with your fish shell. Good job -- it's
    > obvious you've put a lot of work into it.

    Thanks. Yes I have. :-) 

    --
Axel
  • Next message: Alan Connor: "Re: Announcing Viewglob 2.0"

    Relevant Pages

    • Re: Announcing Viewglob 2.0
      ... In my own shell, fish ... If one where to implement such features inside ... Just because the Unix shells and terminals are expert tools doesn't ... I bet once a powerful command line driven interface on a competing ...
      (comp.unix.shell)
    • Re: Re (2): Is non-root for *only* the ppp console safe?
      ... Why in the world do you open 24 root terminals? ... jobs which are not yet complete. ... it opens a window for them to get at you. ...
      (comp.os.linux.networking)
    • Re: the function you are attempting to run contains macros or cont
      ... Open the Control Panel, double-click Programs & Features, find and select Office 2007. ... Setup will then install the VBA code that you need. ... "wacko macro" wrote in message ... >>> can I fix word to not receive this message every time it opens? ...
      (microsoft.public.word.application.errors)
    • Re: Question about SPAWN/INPUT table in the DCL Dictionary manual
      ... >> qualifier is not specified and SYS$INPUT is a NRO PPF), ... > A record-oriented file is a mailbox, ... > I don't know whether serial terminals qualify. ... > it opens up SYS$OUTPUT as a PPF whenever you do a $ DEFINE SYS$OUTPUT. ...
      (comp.os.vms)
    • Re: Blog post on early fanfic, UF
      ... anybody even knew what an "e-book" was. ... Features. ... "Why are immortal college students operating a copy of the SDF-1, ... That's X Windows Unix terminals, ...
      (rec.arts.anime.misc)