From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
From: Dave Atkin <dla@vitanuova.com>
Message-ID: <973787527.26907.0.nnrp-01.d4f0e306@news.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [9fans] Re: Perl5 & kenji arisawa's perl question
Date: Thu,  9 Nov 2000 16:51:56 +0000
Topicbox-Message-UUID: 260d2080-eac9-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025

As a relative newcomer to Plan 9 I find it a bit "mouse-centric".

I don't believe it's easier to find a command in an acme window and
then flaff around with mouse button 2 to execute it (trying not to
accidentally execute half of the next line, too!)  than it is to hit
the cursor-up key in old fashioned shells like tcsh.  It's not a
question of tyranny of the old ways, rather it's a question of ease of
use, sometimes at the end of a hard day, and the number of muscles you
need to use to perform a common operation.

Also, the virtual roll of terminal paper has a splendid audit trail
capability.  There's no chance of looking back in a Plan 9 window to
see what you did previously because you've probably edited half the
commands to make new ones!

Dave Atkin

> 
> Acme's use of mouse button 2 to execute a command addresses requirements
> of the history feature of shells.  This idea was imported from Wirth's Oberon.
> In Oberon you only have to type a command once and it live forever in a text
> window.  This is simular to the Acme guides.  You don't have to look
> through thousands of lines of output with some small number of commands all mixed.
> The Oberon and acme interfaces allow these functions for ANY program,
> not just the shell.  I don't miss the virtual roll of TI Silent 300 terminal paper.
> Look closely at Acme.  It takes some work to break free of the tyranny of the
> old ways.
> 
>  Brantley Coile
>