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Date:	Tue, 25 May 1993 02:55:12 -0400
From:	malte@TechFak.Uni-Bielefeld.DE
Message-Id: <9305250655.AA28604@idefix.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de>
To:	rc@hawkwind.utcs.toronto.edu
Subject: Re: wishlist 
In-Reply-To: Mail from 'Alan Watson <alan@oldp.astro.wisc.edu>'
      dated: 	Mon, 24 May 1993 21:43:43 -0400

In response to  Alan Watson <alan@oldp.astro.wisc.edu>:

	(a) Here strings: use "echo 'foo' | bar" instead of "bar <<< 'foo'"
		For more complex cases, like "bar <<<[0]'foo0' <<<[1]'foo1'" use "echo
		'foo0' |[1=0] { echo 'foo1' |[1=1] bar }"

Well, I made this mistake too:
	echo 'foo' != 'foo'
but
	echo -n 'foo' == 'foo'

I think it's too much typing ( see answer to backqoutes ). But I wouldn't
bother if here string were removed because I don't use them anyway.


	(b) The flattening operator: use a function instead

rc lists are always flat, so reading your function definition, I assume
you mean joining a lists elements into a single element. If this is the case
use
	fn flatten {$1=``(){echo -n $$1}}

because your flattening function uses the flattening operator it tries to
replace.

	(c) `` backquote substitution: use

Yes, this will surely simplify the parser, but in my experience simplicity
is not the ultimate goal. In a real worlds shell you have to watch for
conveniencies, too. Whenever I try to persuade people to use rc, after
a while they'll complain about too much typing because of oversimplified
quoting rules. That's why I asked for backslash escapes. I like the "``"
mechanism very much. And besides, what should be The Right Thing to do

	; ifs = () { echo $#ifs $ifs }
	0
or
	1
I mean, should ifs be unset or set to an empty list ? What does it mean if
ifs not set ? If set to an empty list, this would be different from every
other variable.

	(d) newpgrp: use a wrapper around rc

You'll loose the history list when using readline or editline.

And another thing that hasn't been discussed here: What about compatibility
with plan 9 rc ?

Malte