Re: [OT] Ada bench : count words

["Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de>]

On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 15:53:43 GMT, Tapio Kelloniemi wrote:

> "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> wrote:
>>On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 13:00:22 GMT, Tapio Kelloniemi wrote:
>>> But if some GUI program has a feature you need, but it is unable to
>>> share data (or otherwise co-operate) with other programs, it is useless.
>>
>>Even if "what I need" /= "share data with other programs"?
> 
> This is a bit poor example, but itshows what I mean.
> I return to the office example. I have written a book using that
> cool WYSIWYG application which has a very nice look and feel. But the
> WYSIWYG application has bulit-in support for some print spoolers. My host
> doesn't happen to run any of them. It also refuses to output raw postscript.
> My friend is running the required print spooler on his host, so I copy
> my book (10 MB) to his computer. Unfortunately I have just wasted bandwidth
> since that cool WYSIWYG program refuses to start up without an X display
> when I invoke it through SSH.

One can always construct a situation where tool X is unsuitable for solving
problem Y, like to write a book in postscript using vi editor. BTW, one
move of Linux I enjoy is that there is finally no need to edit
/etc/printcap, You can tell me that sometimes it would be useful to have an
ability to do so, but I'd rather leave that business to those who enjoy it.

As for sharing data that is another question to aged UNIX based on files,
unstructured piles of bytes. A modern OS should have no files, but
persistent objects with primitive operations defined on them. In such OS
there would probably be no place for I/O and stuff like wc.

>>> Also I haven't heard of wizard applications which automate using
>>> GUI programs. I think it is much easier to write a bash script which
>>> invokes those hard to remember commands rather than writing an application
>>> which automates moving the mouse pointer to specified coordinates and then
>>> simulates a click. And that clicker wizard is even not portable to other
>>> screen resolutions...
>>
>>You seem to mix program and user interfaces of an OS. I don't argue against
>>the former.
> 
> But GUIs cannot be automated (as command-line tools can be).

There is no need to automate user interfaces. They are for users which are
not automata (I hope (:-))

> GUI (or TUI)
> is a must for some things (like text editing), but command-line is
> much more powerful for many other things.

And programming interface is far more powerful than both. This is why I use
it and Ada when I need to automate something. In all other cases I'd like
to have GUI. I have no need in anything in between.

-- 
Regards,
Dmitry A. Kazakov
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de