OpenEuphoria

Re: Re[2]: Unicode support in Eu 3.0 + rants

• Posted by Bill Reed <rpfproeu at netscape.net> Jun 28, 2006
• 613 views

akusaya wrote:
> 
> > Oooh, can I have a million dollars please, because I use a lot of those a
> > lot.
> 
> > Generally I agree, euphoria should evolve, but I think losing those commands
> would be a big mistake.</font></i>
> 
> > If you don't wish to use them,don't, I suspect that for modern
> > machines there is little overhead in keeping them, but I also
> > suspect for older machines, that use dos, their loss would be sorely noted.
> 
> > Loss of, for instance, the position command, would mean on Linux
> > console programs, a loss of functionality at the most fundamental
> > level. Binding the ncurses library would be a necesity.
> 
> What I was thinking is remove them from stdlib or builtin routines,
> not completely remove it. So my suggestion is to move those routines
> outside the standard distribution of Eu, and leave it as a community
> project.
> 
> That way, RDS can concentrate more on developing modern techniques
> (threads, unicode, network, etc) rather than finding position() bugs,
> making text_color() compatible on various machines, etc.
> 
> 
> > UTF-8 and 16 would be most welcome in Linux.
> 
> Yes, I agree. And on Windows, of course. It's a disappointment that
> ability to store characters as 31-bit value is not used for unicode
> handling.
> 
> > No, IMHO, the way forward for Euphoria is not to remove
> > functionality, but to add to it in the form of extendable modules,
> > even making a simple way to add C++ library interfaces (if anyone
> > can do that now, SIMPLY, then let me know) (Matt, your libs are
> > anything BUT simple, and way way way over my head!)
> 
> The reason of outdated functionality is to make Rob develop faster. If
> RDS were a company of several people working, no problem with keeping
> old routines. But . . .
> 
> 

Ok, if you're going to pick and choose which of the "old" DOS commands
you're going to keep or get rid of, I want to put in my $.02 for keeping:

get_mouse, mouse_events, clear_screen, position, get_position, 
graphics_mode, scroll, text_color, bk_color, sound, cursor, 
text_rows, get_screen_char, put_screen_char,  save_text_image, 
display_text_image, save_screen, 

I use these on a fairly regular basis, and it would cramp my coding BIG TIME
if I couldn't use these commands.  I am one of the so called "dinosaur" 
programmers that still use DOS.  I don't see the advantages of using EXW
for my programs.  I go for substance, not style.  I like to have a program
that works, not just because it "looks good", and has lots of nifty buttons
and drop-downs and radio buttons and scroll bars on it.

Have you ever noticed some grocery store checkouts where you can see your
grocery items on the screen as it is scanned?  That is a DOS screen, and
I haven't seen any "windows" screens there.  DOS programs are still around
quite a bit.

Bill Reed