Re: Counting characters in command output?

[Roman Perepelitsa <roman.perepelitsa@gmail.com>]

On Wed, Feb 14, 2024 at 4:37 PM Ray Andrews <rayandrews@eastlink.ca> wrote:
>
> What are the vectors? First must be logical necessity, second
> consistency -- avoid strange exceptions -- third and fourth would
> be helpfulness and tradition, with old-school guys favoring
> tradition and guys like me favoring helpfulness.

In any debate between tradition and helpfulness, ensure your
counterpart agrees with this perspective. Should they present
arguments they consider essential for necessity and consistency, and
you categorize them merely as "tradition," dialogue ceases. From their
standpoint, your stance appears at best inconsistent, or at worst,
vague, and you fail to recognize their points even when clearly
outlined.

> I wish there were enough of us on this list to put things to a vote
> sometimes [...]

For anything to happen, somebody has to do the work. There is no point
in voting if the vote has no consequences: it's not an obligation for
anybody to do the work, nor does any work require an approval from
voters.

Bart has done the work of adding named references, so now we'll have
named references. Bart designed the feature, implemented it, and wrote
documentation. At each point everyone was free to contribute to this
effort or to oppose it. Both of these require work, too.

Compare what Bart has done to my posting an opinion on this thread.
One is work, and thus has impact, the other isn't and remains
inconsequential.

Roman.