On Mon, 13 Dec 1999, M. Uli Kusterer wrote:
> >I'm not sure what you mean by "standalone" here. The issue is that
> >this is only possible on UNIX systems: Mac OS doesn't have any concept
> >of console I/O, and a Win32 app must either be graphical *or* console,
> >it can't be both.
>
> Scott,
>
> I'm aware of that. I meant a UI-less MetaCard. Like one would use for Unix
> CGIs.
>
> >The syntax you want is:
> >read from stdin [for | until] <condition>
> >write <expression> to stdout
> >
> >BTW, The latter command is pretty handy for debugging because you can
> >"put" a lot of stuff and still be able to view it in a scrolling
> >window without going to the trouble of creating a separate stack for
> >the output.
>
> I have to admit this is the command that suits me the least, but I think
> it'll work for my purposes. I'd suggest you mention "console" somewhere
> close to stdin and stdout (maybe give them their own entries) in the
> MetaTalk Reference so people looking for "console" will bring up
> read/write, too.
Except when UNIX people refer to "console", it's almost always as the
keyboard and screen physically attached to the computer and never as
where a process gets its input and output. So you never want to do
anything specific to a "console". This terminology is more commonly
(and incorrectly) used on Windows to refer to the character-based
input/output from DOS applications. But MetaCard support for this on
Win32 an issue there because of the forced graphical/console
dichotomy.
> I'm also happy that "read" in MetaTalk supports "read for 5 words" --
> otherwise I would've suggested it :-) Any chance of providing more
> English-like names for stdin and stdout? Maybe "console", "screen" or at
> least long forms like "standardInput" and "standardOutput"? "read from
> console for 5 words" sounds much better to me. Stdin and stdout are sooooo
> geeky.
So is CGI, and compatibility with the terminology used for that is far
more important than trying to "disguise" it by giving it non-matching
"user friendly" names. Allowing the full names sounds like a good
idea, though.
Regards,
Scott
> Cheers,
> -- M. Uli Kusterer
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> http://www.weblayout.com/witness
> 'The Witnesses of TeachText are everywhere...'
>
> --- HELP SAVE HYPERCARD: ---
> Details at: http://www.hyperactivesw.com/SaveHC.html
> Sign: http://www.giguere.uqam.ca/petition/hcpetition.html
>
>
********************************************************
Scott Raney [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.metacard.com
MetaCard: You know, there's an easier way to do that...
