Corn Puffs box misinformation

From: Fred Cisin <cisin_at_xenosoft.com>
Date: Sun Oct 13 13:55:01 2002

On Sun, 13 Oct 2002, r. 'bear' stricklin wrote:
> Hang on, it wasn't my intention to get your dander up.

Not to worry

> The problem with that, IMO, is that none of the tools that ship with
> Windows, CLI or otherwise, are particularly robust, or even suited to any
> but the simplest of the most basic tasks.

DEBUG seems to be almost as good as earlier versions
But I do agree, at least in principle, except that the tools that ship
with the OS are THERE and AVAILABLE. It behooves one to know how to use
them, even if somebody somewhere might have a better tool that could be
obtained. There are better debuggers than DEBUG; but ANY PC that I sit
down at HAS it.

> In the general case I think the
> point that is more useful to illustrate is "use the appropriate tool for
> the job".
exactly.
and the task at hand is to refute the absurd notion that the WINDOZE
desktop is "ALWAYS" appropriate, with EXAMPLE tasks. And to learn
to use the tools that are present, in addition to seeking out other tools
that might or might not be available.


> > Does that program compare two files?
> > The parts of it that were successful in loading made no mention of file
> > compare. (It reported an "internal error")
> You lost me. Which program? FileMerge is an app that ships with the
> developer option for NEXTSTEP and provides a combination of functionality
> offered by the standard UNIX utilities 'diff' and 'patch'.
> I hope you weren't trying to execute the .tiff screen capture that the URL
> pointed to, as an application binary...
You gave "as examp0le" a URL; I trust you; so I pointed a browser in a
fairly isolated machine at the URL that you posted. What came up was
"IMAGING" program.


> > File compare was merely an example that the "desktop" in MICROS~1 OS's
> > does NOT provide all and every capability that had previously been
> > provided in the CLI.
> I don't think anybody would argue that it does.
YES, THEY DO! (but not HERE) That is EXACTLY the issue. The original
issue of the thread was that some beginners claim that there is no need
for the CLI, and OBJECT to class time on it!
> Clearly the CLI doesn't
> provide all the capabilities offered by the GUI either, but I know you
> weren't saying that.

While YOU AND I agree to the obvious, the source of this subthread was to
provide examples to refute the absurd assertion that the WINDOZE DESKTOP
handles everything.

The specific history of this thread is:
STUDENT: Why do we have to do this DOS crap? Will it be on the FINAL?
You can do everything in Windows XP by clicking on it!
TEACHER: Think so? Here's a disk with two large files. Are they
identical?
Followed by my asking whether anybody had some suggestions for other
simple tasks to make the point that the CLI, and the programs that come
with it, has some usefulness of its own, and that there is a REASON why
the CLI is still present in MICROS~1 OS's.


> It's all about the tools!
Received on Sun Oct 13 2002 - 13:55:01 BST