Berkeley terminal driver user interface

[Boyd Roberts]

>   I think more praise is due the user interface.  It is a
>   good thing for a computer program to be simple outside
>   (specification) and simple inside (implementation); but
>   a computer is used best when a program is simple outside
>   but complex inside--the user sees the simplicity, and
>   the computer takes care of the complexity.

How can you say that the Berkeley terminal driver (i.e. job control) 
provides a simple outside world?  Do you not have to fix things
like vi, more and (of all things!!) the shell to understand
about what the terminal driver is likely to do?  However only C-shell
was fixed (C-shell too slow).

What do you do when your program dies on a SIGTINT or somebody
you fork hits you with a SIGTTIN or SIGTTOU?

But Berkeley told you it was ok, so there's no worries.


Boyd Roberts			...!decvax!mulga!boyd:basser