name=value or -n value?

[ken perlow]

--
About a year ago I was working with a severely cut-up Unix* clone
for 8-bit micros called UniFlex.  Aside from changing command names
to words that actually mean what the command does (viz. cat -> list,
pwd -> path, grep -> find), they (TSC Corp in N.C.) changed the
option flag from "-" to "+", so that you type "command +n value".
This made intuitive sense, as an option is generally a sort of add-on,
but I ultimately disassembled their shell and built my own with the
traditional Unix* "-", mostly because I couldn't stand having to
shift to hit the "+" when everything else was lower-case.  Most
terminals I've worked on have "+" as an upper-case character.  The
rhythm of typing a command convention is at least as important as the
convention itself.

* My employer suggests that I point out the obvious fact that Unix
  is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories.
-- 
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