🚀 go-pugleaf

rkswamy@eos.ncsu.edu (Ravi Krishna Swamy) wrote:

> Huh?  Why do you not have to memorize the location of every file
> and dir on your Mac?  Are we talking system files or your own
> personal files and apps?  If you're talking about system files
> then you're right to a certain extent.  For personal files, you'll
> still be clicking looking for the files just like cd'ing with
> a command line. 

Nope- you'd be "cd pub <return> ls" (read) "cd bin <return> ls" et cetera...

The original point for the unix side was "I can just type something like 
    'pico /pub/bin/Simulators/blahblah/whatever/filename_354%a3.txt'
on a drive with gobs of different files and directories ...and I can do it
*really* fast, due to the magic of filenam completion."

My point was that by using a hierarchical menu run on a Mac, I can
maneuver to that directory and find that file a good bit faster.  For
example, from a position with hands on keyboard (typing this), I found my
way to a file named "Librarian Chapters 16-19" (picking a file out at
random that I know exists, but can't remember the exact name, in an
approximate directory structure)- which is five directories down- in under
seven seconds... letting go of the mouse would launch the app assiciated
with it, too.  I figure that in the *worst* case, I could open any file on
my main drive in under ten seconds.

If you try that pathname above under a CLI, you'll probably spend more
time typing it than I spent *navigating* to the file I described.  At 40
words per minute speeds, it would take about fifteen seconds at *least*-
and a helluva lot more with the real-life "cd /pub/bin" "ls" "cd
Sim<completion>" "ls" et cetera operations you'd really have to do. 

> If you're going to use a GUI for file finding
> then I can use a text mode find command.  I *do* have all my
> directories memorized, but that's because I create them in a logical
> way and go to them all the time. 

...and unless you're really silly about memorizing the paths, you're going
to have to stop and look to see which directory name to type in next.

You see, I set my directory structure up in a pretty logical way, too.  So
when I set out on my hirearchical search, I know which direction to shoot
for when I start surfing menus.

> That doesn't mean that I can't use find and find my file just as 
> fast as with a GUI find or clicking around looking for it.

Okay- so find that file with the name you can't quite remember, in a
directory that lives about five levels down, and open it.  Time yourself. 
See if you can do it in under seven seconds.

> What are you trying to say?  Do I have both a /pub/bin/sim *and*
> a /pub/bin/Simulators? 

No- but you have an operating system that's case-sensitive... if you type
/sim, it won't complete to /Simulators.  Especially if there's a
/simulation_notes directory (or even a Simulation_Notes).

> >This is *not* anywhere close to "Apple Menu... hold... drag... there-
> >there- there- there- there- got it."
> 
> You're right.  I'm productive with tcsh+set autolist+bindkey -v
> I'm not with a GUI file mangler.

Well, maybe you should expand your horizons a bit.

-- 
Chad Irby          |  My greatest fear: that future generations will,
cirby@magicnet.net |  for some reason, refer to me as an "optimist."