Re: [zzdev] Re: editor

[Ted Nelson <ted@xxxxxxxxxx>]

M'Jason saith:

>I would suggest that if the user wants to open a dataset read-only
>then we could provide a cprogram command-line argument that says so
>explicitly.  Then they could still use their favorite editor to view
>cell contents without changing them.

Sounds just right.

Best, T


At 06:25 PM 11/15/98 -0500, you wrote:
>
>> Suggestion:
>> 
>> Instead of dying on no-editor-found we should note to the user that
>> the dataset is read-only. 
>
>I don't think it makes sense to couple these two things together.
>They are not related.  It makes sense to use the user's favorite
>editor to view cell contents even if they are read-only, and
>conversely, the user can modify a writable dataset with commands like
>`break_link' whether or not their editor makes sense.
>
>Also, suppose you try to start up ZigZag, and you end up in read-only
>mode.  You didn't want that, so you set about trying to correct the
>problem.  You check the permissions on the file, no, the permissions
>are all right.  Maybe you check some other things.  But you are not
>likely to think to check whether `emacs' is installed in /usr/bin or
>/usr/local/bin.  
>
>That is not the Principle of Least Surprise.
>
>> This lets people frob the choose_editor() function to set things to
>> read-only if they want.
>> 
>> Comments?
>
>I would suggest that if the user wants to open a dataset read-only
>then we could provide a cprogram command-line argument that says so
>explicitly.  Then they could still use their favorite editor to view
>cell contents without changing them.
>
>	zigzag -r file.zz		Read-only mode
>
>
>
____________________________________________________
Theodor Holm Nelson, Visiting Professor of Environmental Information
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