From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,SYSADMIN autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,db9a11afb3da4240 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 102b75,501ec19d1d81daee X-Google-Attributes: gid102b75,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-03-29 09:38:22 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!fu-berlin.de!server1.netnews.ja.net!pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk!nmm1 From: nmm1@cus.cam.ac.uk (Nick Maclaren) Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Language support for flexible handling of system-detected errors. Date: 29 Mar 2002 17:38:18 GMT Organization: University of Cambridge, England Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: draco.cus.cam.ac.uk Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.arch:26110 comp.lang.ada:21854 Date: 2002-03-29T17:38:18+00:00 List-Id: In article , hack wrote: > >Note the *well designed* in the above! I am a very strong believer in >the concept of non-user-driven input, and am constantly frustrated by >applications which only offer a GUI -- or an overly complicated private >"scripting" interface. The nice thing about a CLI is the universal nature >of the interface: pass a command string, collect a reply string (or strings) >and a return code to distinguish success from failure. ONE nice thing - there are zillions of others. For example, it is possible to program it in non-trivial ways (though not in gruesome and inferior CLIs like JCL, TSO or the MS-DOS one). And it is possible to collect evidence to report bugs to vendors in a way that they might just understand. >I wish it were the case that "a UI is just that", because it would indeed >permit fairly universal control. An example is the "smit" application in >AIX for system management: it is just a front end for traditional Unix CLI >configuration commands. It has a "preview" feature that shows what commnds >would result from a given GUI button, making it clear that this is just an >improved UI to what would otherwise deserve the bad reputation ("inscrutable") >of the Unix CLI. As an AIX system administrator, I wish to dissent! But that is off-group :-) Regards, Nick Maclaren, University of Cambridge Computing Service, New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England. Email: nmm1@cam.ac.uk Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679