voting on features?

voting on features?

["D. Hugh Redelmeier"]

I don't use ~ much; I can take it or leave it.  I have used $H
since 6th Edition (before Bourne sh).

When I use it, I almost always use it to reference my own home
directory.  Who needs to reference arbitrary other users' files with
such a shortcut?  Perhaps sysadmins (who can implement /u if they
want to).  I don't want a fat shell for this shortcut.  I don't want
unportable code to implement it either.

----

I do want file name completion and a pleasant history mechanism in
an interactive shell.  On the other hand, readline appears quite
unreasonable.

History can and perhaps should be implemented as a tty line
discipline or equivalent.  There are programs that do this.
Unfortunately, filename completion can't be done there (at least for
a shell) because the line discipline cannot tell what the reader's
current directory is.

My current thought is that a Finder-like shell (with a lot more
capability) should be used for interactive uses.  rc would then be
used for scripts, including those underlying the interactive shell.
rc would not need history or filename completion for this use.

I have been using such a setup for about four years.  The
interactive shell ("HI") is derived from vsh; unfortunately it is a
proprietary program that appears not to be marketed (now owned by
SCO).  The script shell I use is Bourne sh.

When forced to move to ksh (due to lack of license for HI on a
client's machine), I felt as if my hands had been chopped off.
ksh's history and filename completion make it a better interactive
shell than Bournes.

----

I think echo deserves to be a builtin.  The performance effects are
significant.  On the other hand, I think that the user should be
able to control whether it is used.  The obvious mechanism is the
search path.

---

I don't have an opinion on ^^.  If it is added,
	single ^ list
should be forbidden.  This would make certain accidents errors.

Hugh Redelmeier
{utcsri, yunexus, uunet!attcan, utzoo, scocan}!redvax!hugh
When all else fails: hugh@csri.toronto.edu
+1 416 482-8253