From: papresco@napier.uwaterloo.ca (Paul Prescod)
Subject: Re: IS UNIX DEAD? (long)
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 21:22:03 GMT

>Hey, why doesn't my toaster ask me for confirmation if I press the little
>bar without inserting any bread?

Try it, it will usually pop up after a few seconds.

>>Why is it, in VI that there is no way (I know of) to get help, or exit,
>>without knowing the exit key?  What doesn't "h" in command mode present
>>ANY kind of help?
>
>Why doesn't my hard drive realize that I didn't really want to delete
>that data?  Why don't I have a team of ergonomics specialists sitting
>at my desk doing all my typing by dictation?

Two different things.  Asking for a help key is really not as 
"pampered" as you would make it out.  As far as the hard drive:
OS/2 and DOS both have reasonably good undelete procedures.  OS/2 just
copies the file to a temporary directory in the background.

>Again, vi is not a drop-in replacement for Microsoft Write.  It's
>an extremely powerful editor of text files.  If you want to whine,
>consider asking Microsoft why they don't have a command line in
>their editors.

Microsoft has a  *PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE* built into word.  I can't
imagine why someone would prefer a command line to keystrokes
and requester windows. 	
>
>>Why don't Unix "tools" have a convention about help and exit keys AT THE
>>VERY LEAST.  
>
>Control-C works for me.  That, or Control-Z kill %1.

And assembly is a high level language..right.  And your programming language
of choice is binary.

>Your lack of attentiveness is simply not our problem.  The bottom of
>every man page I've seen about 'vi' contains a pointer to the actual
>vi manual.

Would you like me to mail you our man pages or will you take my word for it
that it says nothing about other man pages.

>>Why do I have 12 function keys on my keyboard that seem to do absolutely
>>nothing?
>
>dumb question is this?  Are you blaming your keyboard manufacturer's
>ills on Unix, or are you incoherently expecting that Unix assign some
>sort of meaning to every key assignable?

No it's not a dumb question.  There is no standard for help in the Unix
world.  The f keys are seldom used in unix programs.  Most terminals
have f keys.  It would seem this would be a good time to start convincing
people to use F1 for help, n'est ce pas?

>>Why doesn't VI use the jkl; keys for cursor movement, since your fingers
>>are already on them.  Or why not use keys somewhere far from them.  A
>>person can easily get confused.
>
>Whose fingers are already on them?  Not mine.  If you're having a hard
>time moving your fingers one key away, might I recommend not using
>a computer?  These things are dangerous.

It's got nothing to do with difficulty.  It has to do with intelligence.
With 95% of all keyboards having little bumps on the "home" key it makes
absolutely NO SENSE to use keys one character right of the home keys
as cursor keys.  None whatsoever.  Espeicially when h could be a help
key, instead of wasted on the right arrow, when J should be the right
arrow.

>>Why does VI default to beeping at you when you try to type as opposed to
>>editing?
>
>Because you're Making a Mistake, and vi appropriately tells you so.

Why is typing text into a text editor "a mistake."  VI should default
to typing mode.  It would 100% or more user friendly, as well as compatible
with the other 1000 programs out there that claim to be editors. 

>Again, you're confused.  My vi, and every vi I have used, has dealt with
>too-long lines in a rational manner.  All my vis also have word-wrap,
>which you would discover if you took the time to read the man page and
>read the manual listed at the end of the man page.

Sigh.  See above.

>>Is there a wordwrap mode in VI?  And if so, why doesn't it kick in when I
>>use VI from RN?
>
>a) yes.  b) because your .exrc file is not set up correctly.

How often does someone want to edit news without word wrap?  Wouldn't that
make it logical to put word wrap in the standard .exrc file?

>Hey, I'm getting into the rhythm of this.  Let me try:
>
>Why is it that people who have no idea how to use Unix and who think
>that it should operate at the lowest common denominator keep asking
>stupid questions?

Because they are not stupid questions.  They are good questions.  Obviously
VI has flaws.  Obviously unix has flaws.  Everything has flaws.  It is
frightening the way many Unix users refuse to admit that Unix has flaws.

If you launch an editor from VI, that editor should be a wordprocessor.  If
it is vi, vi should be in wordprocess mode.  If it doesn't, that is a flaw.

If help does nothing at the command prompt.  That is a flaw.

If the cursor keys are illogical that is a flaw.

Anything can be improved if we discuss the flaws and discuss ways to improve
them.  If we treat those that notice flaws as blasphemers, we all end up
using 1970s text editors in 1992, and unix dies.

Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,comp.sys.mac.comm