From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Message-ID: <64f5b14c528bef319ba1386d8850a473@mightycheese.com>
To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
Subject: Re: [9fans] Re: \n\n\n to \n\n
From: "rob pike, esq." <rob@mightycheese.com>
In-Reply-To: <002001c2e2e3$d0f0f0e0$2a8be793@gli.cas.cz>
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Date: Wed,  5 Mar 2003 09:26:26 -0800
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> I just wonder why Edit is a built-in... I would prefer piping to (streamed) sam...
> wouldn't that be a cleaner solution?

First, there isn't a streamed sam, and second, streaming only works
for one file.  Second, you *can* stream text through commands; I do it
all the time.  (|fmt, |sort, |tr A-Z a-z, etc.  etc.)

But to answer your question: I find the X command extremely powerful,
and can't see any way to have a streaming implementation that will
look at multiple files simultaneously.

One day I realized I could easily implement Edit as a command in acme,
but that after about fifteen years of desultory thought I still didn't
see the right way to build a stream sam.  The X command was the
clincher, and I started hacking.

-rob