Re: A92: The results. (was TIOS: Can't live with is. Can't live with
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Re: A92: The results. (was TIOS: Can't live with is. Can't live without it?)
>To spend our time more wisely and more effectively, we should build
>new interfaces for the calculator. Mitch is very interested in a
>command-line interface, as am I.
Keep in mind that a CLI would be largely useless to '89 users, which are
most of the market now. (i.e. no qwerty keyboard, so menu navigation would
be faster than typing if the menus are thoughtfully laid out.)
> If someone would provide services
>like stdin and stdout, console programs would be easier to write as
>no one is required to do manual I/O.
The TI development kit should provide the standard library, which includes
stdin and stdout.
>The almost 64 KB of memory
>that the "system" uses needs to be freed.
Why not archive it temporarily?
Freeing it in any other way (short of compression) will essentially reset
your calculator, as far as I can tell.
>For those who would like to work on the command-line interface, I
>believe Mitch would glade welcome any help. As with any shell, I
>suggest you keep things simple. Make sure that your interface has
>a specific goal and obtains it with a minimal footprint.
I think a well-laid-out menu system would be better...I'm a fast typist,
but with a fixed library of commands, menus are faster. And, people--stop
trying to implement mouse pointers on the '92 GUIs like Prosit. We have
cursor keys only. Keyboard navigation (tab-tab-tab-tab-space) would be faster.
>I would
>also warn against using any existing interfaces.
Why not? The best way to get around the large system footprint is to use
their routines--their fonts, their menus, their file system....
--Cliff Biffle
Optimist: This glass is half full.
Pessimist: This glass is half empty.
Cynic: They drank my water. Figures.
Engineer: The glass should be -half- this size!
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