INKEY$ [Was: printf, data presentation]

[Chip Rosenthal]

In article <225800106 at uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> mcdonald at uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>>From my recollection of BASIC, INKEY$ has two main uses:
>/*   (long discussion deleted)   */
>The important point is that some such function should be a
>STANDARD C (ANSI C) function

No, that isn't the important point.  Such a procedure is generally used
for busy loops, and this is a bad idea.  If you are waiting for a keystroke,
then use c_cc[VMIN]=1.  If you are waiting for a one of a number of
assynchronous events, then fork processes to block on the various events
and signal the parent to handle it.

Since busy waiting is a bad idea, so is formalizing it in a standard.
-- 
Chip Rosenthal     chip at vector.UUCP    |      Choke me in the shallow water
Dallas Semiconductor   214-450-5337    |         before I get too deep.