Character echo at read time

[Kenneth Almquist]

jfh at rpp386.Dallas.TX.US (The Beach Bum) writes:
> i touch type.  generally i know that i have made a mistake before i even
> see what i have typed.  i don't even know what i am correcting when i
> correct, just that i have typed some wrong character (like the d in
> typed just now, i typed a space (and did it again just there ;-) and then
> went back and corrected it to be a d)  my question has always been: how
> many programmers, etc, touch type?

I touch type, but the only error I am generally aware of without seeing it
is when I don't strike a key squarely--and then I have to look to see
whether I struck 0, 1, or 2 characters.

I kind of like the EMACS shell mode, where if you are typing away, output
is inserted before the stuff you are typing.  (Unfortunately EMACS doesn't
know when data is actually read; once you hit RETURN subsequent output is
inserted after the line you typed.)  The two window approach used by Apollo
sounds pretty good also.

I'm *not* recomending that these features be added to the tty driver.  I've
concluded that the UN*X model of sticking all the tty handling intelligence
inside the kernel isn't very good.  Let the terminal do all the stuff like
line editing, or, for people with dumb terminals, let the work be done by
an emulation program running on the host which makes their dumb terminals
look like smart ones.
				Kenneth Almquist