From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 3941 invoked from network); 16 Jan 1998 17:06:51 -0000 Received: from math.gatech.edu (list@130.207.146.50) by ns1.primenet.com.au with SMTP; 16 Jan 1998 17:06:51 -0000 Received: (from list@localhost) by math.gatech.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id LAA24900; Fri, 16 Jan 1998 11:56:55 -0500 (EST) Resent-Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 11:56:55 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199801161656.LAA24885@math.gatech.edu> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.0zeta 7/24/97 To: zsh-workers@math.gatech.edu (Zsh hackers list) Subject: Re: PATCH: 3.1.2-zefram3: history completion In-reply-to: Your message of "Fri, 16 Jan 1998 17:02:03 +0100." <199801161602.RAA04256@hydra.ifh.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 16:57:49 +0000 From: Bruce Stephens Resent-Message-ID: <"bMaI42.0._46.M5vlq"@math> Resent-From: zsh-workers@math.gatech.edu X-Mailing-List: archive/latest/3725 X-Loop: zsh-workers@math.gatech.edu Precedence: list Resent-Sender: zsh-workers-request@math.gatech.edu pws@ifh.de said: > This is what I was referring to when I suggested having a widget > associated with a particular compctl (or, equivalently, allowing a > direct form of compctl in a zle function). If it happens (which means > if Zefram has time to do it) it will require fiddling through the > manual before use, and consequently 99% of users will never know it > exists, some fraction of which would otherwise have used it. Indeed. There's a (minimal) danger that things split (like emacs/xemacs), with some people feeling that the base installation ought to be relatively small but very configurable, and others feeling that the default installation ought to present users with a more functionally rich product. I think there's a bit of a danger with the minimalist view that zsh OOTB might look identical to ksh, in which case why would users bother to look further? On the other hand, there's a danger that zsh might be horribly slow as a scripting shell because of all the wacky features that are nice for interactive users, or where it's just about impossible to remove the default features that annoy you without removing everything. Presumably there's some compromise where people can build/install zsh and get a nice shell with some useful completions, useful zle behaviour, and possibly even a useful prompt. Maybe a graphical/menu driven configuration tool for newish users which helps to set up template .zsh* files. (I think there already is such a tool somewhere or other; if it's any good maybe the zsh docs should point at it.) A (probably graphical) tool which introduced all of the features of zsh, and automatically configured those chosen would be quite nice. Every now and again I read through the docs, and notice some unexpected feature I didn't know about. Imagine how daunting zsh must be to users used to csh, or COMMAND.COM.