Periodic confusion

[utzoo!decvax!ittvax!sii!drd]

I don't think iseof() in combination with EOF is a good solution
to end-of-file problems. First, if there is a single character to be
used for end-of-file, the tty driver structure for special characters
should be used. In that way, more than just the eof char could be 
changed, and the driver would know about it (I suspect it is hard
or inappropriate for the driver to know about environment variables).
Of course, it might be convenient if the stty command allowed setting
of these characters.
Second, it is not obvious to me that the solution to casual users'
problems in this area is to simply choose a different character for
end-of-file. (If it were, then you could simply make your own command
that changes the special characters as you see fit and have it
executed for your casual users behind their backs.)
-David Dick (decvax!ittvax!sii!drd)