shell architecture (to glob or not to glob)

[Dave Burton]

In article <4584 at lib.tmc.edu> jmaynard at thesis1.hsch.utexas.edu (Jay Maynard) writes:
|Unix is at the far end of the scale: it's actively user-hostile. ...
|I wouldn't even
|consider handing a user a raw $ or % prompt, X terminal or not. It's simply
|too daunting. Unix' terseness is a win for a programmer, but a major loss
|for a user.
|...
|The difference is, as another said, that Unix types are generally programmers,
|while DOS users are getting real work done.

Read the following in the context of "getting real work done."

First, "real" work is done under MSDOS and Unix with third-party applications,
not with the built-in or supplied programs.  Invocation is, or can be made
to look, the same under both.  Therefore, once the users understand how to
log in, even if they don't comprehend what logging in is, the differences are
only cosmetic. (MSDOS shells are the exception, but for all of the businesses
I've worked with, command.com was the norm.)

So, when comparing Unix to MSDOS, it's not entirely fair to claim that
Unix is (more) terse.  The commands are different, but not generally more
terse.  The most commonly used dos commands and their Unix equivalents:
	MSDOS		UNIX
	-----		----
	dir		ls
	cd x		cd x
	cd		pwd
	prompt=x	PS1=x
	path=x;y;z	PATH=x:y:z
	copy		cp
	ren		mv
and of course, the infamous backslash abortion of MSDOS - just so it would
be different from Unix (grrrr).

*Any* user who can command MSDOS with the above can learn and command Unix
with the equivalents.  Some caution needs to be taken with escapes and
quoting, but the general advise "if you see the `>' prompt, press <DEL>"
suffices.  Recalcitrant users can have aliases/functions/scripts that
exactly mimic MSDOS (save the backslash and slash distinctions).  If that's
really the problem (_really_?), there are common.com clones that run under
Unix.

What makes Unix "actively user-hostile?"  The number of manuals it comes
with, the number of floppies required to install it, the initial installation,
and its reputation for being obscure.  Even a poor consultant, the kind usually
found in retail stores, can set up the system to run with a minimum of
maintenance.  For that matter, virtually any literate user with even a hint
of determination can set up current Unix small system offerings.
It's Not That Difficult(tm).

No, Unix is not (quite) as easy as MSDOS.  Neither is it terribly arcane
in comparison.  And when real power is needed, it's there...
--
Dave Burton
inet: daveb at bach.austin.ibm.com
uucp: cs.utexas.edu!ibmchs!auschs!nostromo!daveb