Posted by: Administrator
on December 16, 2003 05:18 AM
I would like to know which utility it is that "[does] one thing well". They may do something well, but I'm having a hard time thinking of a utility that does just on thing, and doesn't need twelve command line switches just to do one thing.
And if it is necessary to have all of these switches, I would think that you could make them contextual so that incompatible switches can't be entered.
As far as I can tell, the environments that fostered the creation every legacy Unix utility have ceased to exist. Vi, for one, according to its author, was created to make it possible to do editing over EXTREMELY slow (110 baud) connections. Now, the existence of most of these programs is only justified by compatibility with the scripts that were created so that people could actually be productive.
In short, they are small, useful and ubiquitous, so there is no need to stop using them, but don't villify people trying to create something a little more usable. After all, the GUI is the the right tool for the job if you need to point at something and say, "I want THAT." Under other circumstances, latitude and longitude might be better, but the goal remains the same: efficiency.
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Which utilities were those?!
Posted by: Administrator on December 16, 2003 05:18 AMAnd if it is necessary to have all of these switches, I would think that you could make them contextual so that incompatible switches can't be entered.
As far as I can tell, the environments that fostered the creation every legacy Unix utility have ceased to exist. Vi, for one, according to its author, was created to make it possible to do editing over EXTREMELY slow (110 baud) connections. Now, the existence of most of these programs is only justified by compatibility with the scripts that were created so that people could actually be productive.
In short, they are small, useful and ubiquitous, so there is no need to stop using them, but don't villify people trying to create something a little more usable. After all, the GUI is the the right tool for the job if you need to point at something and say, "I want THAT." Under other circumstances, latitude and longitude might be better, but the goal remains the same: efficiency.
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