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> At 06:15 PM 2/18/2005 -0500, Rex wrote:
> Well, I do need a Windows serial communication package.
> I'm still using my industrial-strength trusty DOS stuff, but
> Windows delays it if you run it in an inactive window.
Have you checked CommV24 under BlackBox? We will use it to communicate
with instrumentation that uses serial protocol.
>>On the other hand, why would you need a console to begin with?
>
> Consoles are incredibly fast and useful for processing lots of
> data.
Did you really say "processing lots of data"? Or did you mean
"entering concise commands that do data processing"? The difference
is not just semantics. Imagine that you need to delete 10,000 files
from disk. Is the console really good at processing 10,000 commands
that you need to enter by hand one-by-one? However, the same console
is incredibly fast if you can enter "rm *.* -f".
What I am driving at is that it is not the console that is fast.
It is the command interpreter that you are talking to.
If you agree on that, then there may be another way of entering
the same commands other than touch-typing. For example, there are
regular expression parsers for BlackBox. What you may really want
is not necessarily a console, but a way of talking to such a parser.
> Using a mouse is like typing with one thumb, and you can
> manage hundreds of files instantly without touching a mouse, if
> you set it up nicely.
Do you mean script languages, redirection, and piping? In other words,
Unix utilities?
> You don't even need a mouse or to move your hands from home position
> on the keyboard for the fastest menu ever.
Do you mean ANSI CRT console with all those escape characters that
allowed us to build menus on a 25x80 monitor screen? Or things like
Norton Commander, that indeed was very efficient?
> For me, a lot of Windows programs seem like a step back
> into antiquity, like using an ancient typewriter.
Actually, a console is an electronic version of a teletype.
If there is an ancient typewriter somewhere, it is a console.
Not that I am criticising. Old typewriters are good.
> A console is also very fast and easy to program for.
Anything is fast and efficient once you get used to it.
> On the other hand, serial I/O or XY I/O to a console-like window
> can be an adequate substitute.
Substitute for what? Do you mean I can do graphical display of
histograms on a console? Obviously not? So, which part of a graphics-
intensive system should be "consolized"?
Actually, there are a graphically-rich systems with console input.
They were developed by High Energy physicists. The older one was
Physics Analysis Workstation (PAW), the newer one is ROOT. Both
come from CERN. Check out
http://root.cern.ch/ This system offers
all that you may dream of plus one small addition: it crashes profusely
because it was all written in C++. This last small piece of info
seems to be missing from their webpage.
>From my own experience I can assure you both PAW and ROOT excel
in user hostility because they are console-based. However, after
months and months of intense use, their console-based interface
can become a second nature. Just like you said, "fast and easy
to program for", after several months or years of training.
> I should add that for convenience, my consoles run in
> a window, just like on UNIX --
Just like UNIX.... I recently read an interesting statement in one
of Linux books. "Ls is one of the most powerful, and therefore
one of the most confusing, Unix commands." Powerful and therefore
confusing. Confusing, and therefore powerful. Just think of it.
Power has been equated with confusion in Unix world.
To add to your recent posting about BlackBox confusion, open up
a xman window under Linux and tell me, how many of these commands
do you really know? There are a few hundreds of those, each one
with different and incompatible syntax and each one with separate
switches and options. A switch "-rf" can be useful with one, but
deadly with another Unix command. You will never know whether
"rm / -rf" is beneficial or deadly, unless you try. Unix is a mine
field. Is this really what we prefer?
W.
--- BlackBox
--- send subject HELP or UNSUBSCRIBE to blackbox{([at]})nowhere.xy
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Received on Sat Feb 19 2005 - 18:26:04 UTC