🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <928@dogie.edu> terranova@vms.macc.wisc.edu (John Terranova) writes:
<In article <2712@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>, mikem@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Mike Morton) writes...
<
<<As long as we're helping Apple redesign the Finder, I have a request:
<< 
<So do I.  I love the Mac interface.  Honest, I do.  But, much as I hate
<to admit it, it is not perfect.  In fact, no derivative of it (in my
<opinion) can be perfect.  Sometimes a command line is preferable.  I
<would like a single command line window in the Finder.  Give it a menu
<option and command key equivalent.  The window could function not too
<dissimilarly from the UNIX csh.
<
<It would come with standard commands (ls, cp, mv, more, jobs, ...).
<People can write their own routines that can be called from it with the
<same type of parameters as normal UNIX programs.
<
<Can you say "The Best of Both Worlds?"  OK, how much flame am I going
<to get now?

None, at least from this end.  I agree, to some extent.  An obvious
starting point would be the MPW shell.  The MPW shell has a lot of
nice features, but there are some things which should be done
differently for a CLI window in the Finder.  First, it would be nice
to have some feedback showing the current working directory.  On one
hand, it kind of makes sense to use the top Finder window, but that
would mean that different windows would have to keep opening for every
cd.  Second, MPW doesn't seem to have a path.  I don't use MPW, so I
could be wrong.  This is especially annoying since it's difficult to
remember exact pathnames after being used to the Finder.

This sounds like just nitpicking, but let me put the situation this
way.  I would greatly appreciate having a command line interface to
the Finder.  What I picture in my mind would be an MPW window running
under the Finder.  I don't feel comfortable with the MPW shell for
some unknown reason.  I'm probably just not used to it.  One of the
reasons is that I don't like it is psychological.  On a UNIX machine,
or egad! an MS-DOS machine, I feel like I am communicating with the
machine at a very low level.  assembly:pascal::cli:windows.  But under
MPW, I feel like I'm running a fancy text-editor which can interpret
my commands and pass them on to the Finder.  Don't get me wrong, the
MPW shell is very powerful.  It's just this feeling I have that I'm
not at the heart of the machine.

Maybe if Apple could find a nice way to integrate the Finder interface
and a command line interface, I wouldn't feel this way.  And part of
the reason is that I don't optimize my filenames for a CLI.  Filenames
with spaces in them are a real drag.

I think the key is to make every low-level function available to the
CLI, make every high-level function avaiable to the window interface,
and have plenty of overlap.  Seriously rethink the whole interface so
that the CLI fits smoothly with the Finder.  Think about how to
enhance the CLI concept without losing the power.  For example, I'd
like to see a pane in the CLI window with the contents of the cwd.
And I'd like to see a rethinking of the history mechanism.  The MPW
method is very powerful, but I'm somehow uncomfortable with it.  Maybe
it's just me.  Maybe stick the CLI in a floating palette, like the
message box in Hypercard.

I'm a big believer in CLI's.  In a lot of situations, it's easier to
use for the experienced user than a visual interface.  That's why I'm
putting one into the data analysis program I've been working on. (and
probably will still be working on when hell freezes over)  When I use
the MPW shell, I get the feeling that although it's nice for some
things, I'd be lost without the Finder.  On the Amiga, I feel
comfortable using just the CLI interface, and not the Workbench deal.
I would never feel that way on a Mac, for some reason.  Strange.

-Sho