Re: Properties

On 2010-12-03 04:34, Shark8 wrote:
Perhaps this is true in some degree; there are, however, some rather
serious design flaws and deficiencies. One deficiency is/was the
absence of a 'rename' command for files& directories; renaming is a
VERY common procedure for anyone managing their files; instead of
'rename' one is to use 'move' to achieve similar effect... there is
one HUGE problem with using move [because * expansion is required in
all *nix shells] you cannot rename groups of files.

ex:
DOS -> Ren *.p *.pas -- Renaming all .p files to .pas
*nix -> mv *.p *.pas -- becomes expanded...
-> mv 1.p 2.p 3.p test.pas -- test.pas from the dir


Or you can use rename:

$ rename .bak .txt *.bak

That renames all your .bak files to .txt.

The rename command has been part of the standard Linux tools for many
years. It's also readily available for FreeBSD and I suspect other
*BSD's as well. You're not forced to use mv to rename files.



Shell-scripting is loads of fun* too. {*And by 'fun' I mean
irritating, irregular, and surprisingly non-portable between different
'flavors'.} The following two-line script shows the POWER of *nix
shell-scripts:
#/bin/sh
$0&



A /bin/sh script is perfectly portable, if you intend to use it with the
Bourne Shell.

It's of course less portable if you try to use it with the C shell.



The shell-scripting is one reason; why in the name of Chaos would
someone want to use them [CSH or KSH or BASH]? In terms of power/
flexibility a LISP-based shell would be TONS more useful/managable...
though, admitidly it would require that one thinks in recursion.



If you don't like BASH, csh, zsh or Korn, then why not try
something like BUSH:

http://www.pegasoft.ca/bush.html

It has a very Ada-like approach to shell scripting.



The lack of types on files is another; old Macs had file-types down,
but *nix has nothing like that (nor does it have even the capability
for it, kernel-wise). {Windows has a [barely] workable file-extension/
association scheme -- analogous to an Ada map of (Key =>
File_Extention, Element => Application_Info).}


The "file" command is your friend.

It just works, and it doesn't depend on some shaky dot extension scheme.

Simple file->program association is handled well in both KDE and Gnome.
I suspect other desktop environments have similar systems in place. I
don't think this is a job for the kernel.


Lack of file versioning.* {Unix, Mac, and Win => Lose. VMS => Win.}
*File-versioning could save the arses of 90% of the lost/corrupted
file problems that I've encountered with MS Word users. i.e. the "my
kid selected the first twelve pages of my document and replaced it
with 'gsosdpofij' and I saved over it!" instantly becomes recoverable.


Hardly the fault of *nix, but of the file system you're using.

Or you could just use a VCS to track the directories and files that
needs versioning.


One single hyphenated-word: man-pages.
The old DOS hypertext help was superior to man=pages, windows .HLP
file help was/is superior to man-pages, the OpenVMS help-system is
FAR, FAR more usable than man-pages.


man rename
man file

What's wrong with that? It could not be any easier.

Do you want to search for a specific word?

man -K word

or a phrase?

man -K "my phrase"

Or using apropos:

man -k "determine file type"

and you get:

file [] (1) - determine file type

It's easy, flexible and it works.


Error codes? In *nix programs may or may not use them... (some
programs return 0/success when errors were encountered) which makes
them less than useless.


Hardly the fault of *nix, just as the abundance of horrible software
for Windows cannot be blamed on Windows itself.

--
Regards,
Thomas Løcke

Email: tl at ada-dk.org
Web: http:ada-dk.org
IRC nick: ThomasLocke
.

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