From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 8081 invoked from network); 9 Jun 2000 14:15:50 -0000 Received: from sunsite.auc.dk (130.225.51.30) by ns1.primenet.com.au with SMTP; 9 Jun 2000 14:15:50 -0000 Received: (qmail 10430 invoked by alias); 9 Jun 2000 14:15:24 -0000 Mailing-List: contact zsh-users-help@sunsite.auc.dk; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk X-No-Archive: yes X-Seq: 3144 Received: (qmail 10422 invoked from network); 9 Jun 2000 14:15:22 -0000 Resent-From: "Bart Schaefer" Resent-Message-Id: <1000609141510.ZM17404@candle.brasslantern.com> Resent-Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 14:15:10 +0000 X-Mailer: Z-Mail (5.0.0 30July97) Resent-To: zsh-users@sunsite.auc.dk Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 15:36:47 +0200 From: Matthias Kopfermann To: Bart Schaefer Subject: Re: wish for a colored completion system Message-ID: <20000609153647.A22222@linux-ws.kg-hittfeld.local> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 1.0i In-Reply-To: ; from schaefer@candle.brasslantern.com on Thu, Jun 08, 2000 at 05:37:40PM +0000 X-UIDL: e0077de6cd37157268622b45e9a9701d > On Jun 8, 2:44pm, Matthias Kopfermann wrote: > } > } the only problem with it, it is not simple nor is it obvious :( > > You want simple, or you want programmable? hmm, that is one of the more difficult questions to ask. I guess, I would like medium programmability. :) Reminds me on something: i love vim but i had to get used to the color-programming, in elvis (another vi-clone) it was much, much simpler but not at all powerful. I guess: I would very much like the shell to train me in doing it manually so when i know i can do the programming much quicker. Something like a interactive tutorial. You know , like for vi or emacs. (" Now try to get the colors right. First: What command do you want to be completed? ...") Or: What about a nice Gui-Interface (tcsh has it for completion) or a dialog-script that helps me do a whole set of completion-algorithms? I would be very satisfied, because it would reduce my steep learning curve. reading -> translating ( in my case ) -> understanding -> programming. Sometimes i think the getting-used-to-it takes longer than the whole effect of usibility (but that may be my problem only because i -hate to say it - i am slooow!.) > > That approach was designed to make it easy to use your existing GNU "ls" > color options for coloring files in zsh. Easy for one thing, and that IS easy, right! > hard for > some others. At first I thought, the approach was not general enough. but then again: The more general the more complicated , it seems. Handcoding is great if knowledge is there. But in my case it would dramatically increase my knowledge if there was a tool to help me get it right and be trained and then i could study the whole output and do the whole thing manually much quicker. I love to be able to do it manually. And i really love to be able to work with unix ( linux in my happy case ) _without_ using graphical interfaces, really. But normally all these powerful tools don't come with easy to follow instructions how to make it work. Peter Stephenson has done many very good attempts to change that with his userguide and I said before that i consider this to be very, very important and applauded him. To make a long explanation of my state short: I would love to have a training tool (software) for many of the wonderful free software-products and almost nothing is available. So it takes time. In my case much time that i love to spent but sometimes i just get frustrated because it takes soo long. okay, I revealed myself. Many things are personal but i know many people that feel the same. And , because Bart asked , i took the chance to explain it. Of course this is not at all ZSH-specifig. Is it off-topic? Matthias