Modern Arguments to main()

[P. D. Guthrie]

I think that what the previous postings have been missing in the
discussion on command line arguments in icon-type environments is that
command line arguments are not really used to pass the input to the
program, rather set switches to control the execution, much as the /
switches in TOPS-20.  To pass data gathered by pointing the mouse at
displayed text, etc, stdin should be used.  Perhaps when selecting an
icon to execute with certain data, a distinctive method is used to bring
up a front end menu of command line arguments to be turned on or off (or
set) and when modified to satisfaction, the menu is closed and the
command executed.  A front end could take a "usage description" for any
program from a file like this:
@/bin/cat "usvte"* FILE*  #name, options and file, the * means 0 or more
u:SWITCH:Unbuffered:Buffered
s:SWITCH:Silent:Not Silent
v:SWITCH:Visible:Not Visible
t:SWITCH:Tabs:No Tabs
e:SWITCH:EOL indicate:No EOL indicate

So with this method, no changes to existing code would be needed, and
the option file(s) could even be used to produce from a non-iconic
shell.   The front end simply changes the switches taken from the menu
into a shell line and executes the command.  Does anyone know of a
system that uses this type of thing currently?  The only icon based
shell that I have worked with is Sydix,  and with that, when you define
an icon on your desktop,  you say that it is a certain command with
arguments, so you would have to define something like :
1. a cat icon , no arguments,
2. a see icon,  cat -v

I think the method I have listed above would be more versatile.
-- 

Paul Guthrie				`When the going gets weird,
ihnp4!ihdev!pdg				 The weird turn pro'
					  - H. Thompson