Re: [9fans] Duff's rc paper: Why awk?

[erik quanstrom <quanstro@quanstro.net>]

> I've read [0], which is enlightening btw, but there is one thing,
> in Section 27, which I don't understand: Why is awk(1) used there?
>
> 	fn read{
> 		$1=`{awk '{print;exit}'}
> 	}
>
> [0] http://static.tobold.org/rc/rc-duff.html
>
> I rather would have used sed(1), which is less distracting in this
> case:
>
> 	fn read{
> 		$1=`{sed q}
> 	}
>
> This use of awk is unexpected to me, it draws my attention on it,
> thus I'm searching for the strange hidden detail that might be
> emphasized. (Such as the use of `if not' instead of `else'.) But I
> can't find it.
>
> Maybe there is no such hidden detail. Maybe there is no real
> reason behind the use of awk here. I'm not really sure ...

plan 9 sed reads a second line before quitting (note the "def" in the example
below); sed does not work.

- erik
------
; fn read{
	$1=`{sed q}
	echo read `{whatis $1}
}
; read x
abc
def
read x=abc
; fn read{
	$1=`{awk '{print;exit}'}
	echo read `{whatis $1}
}
; read x
abc
read x=abc