On Wed, 6 Sep 2000, andu wrote:
> >Recently, Scott Raney wrote:
> >
> >> This really gets back to the issue of "are stacks documents or
> >> applications?" debate that has come up several times in various places
> >> over the years. My UNIX and CS background causes me to consider them
> >> applications, whereas people with a less technical background tend to
> >> consider them documents.
> >
> >Are pages of text considered "applications" on UNIX? I would imagine these
> >are incapable of launching or being edited without some type of engine.
> >Isn't a MC stack the same type of animal? You can't launch or edit a stack
> >without some type of engine, regardless of whether the engine is external or
> >bound to the stack. Granted, I am "less technical" but since (as far as I
> >know) you can't "technically" do anything with a stack unless you have the
> >engine, a stack would be considered a document.
>
> The analogy is not right. When you doubleclick a stack you launch the engine. The
>functionality of a text file without an environment which would allow for
> editing is close to none; a stack without the development
> environment can be as useful as any application.
Actually I think the analogy *is* right. Another example: try
creating a text file in a Windows text editor and save it as
"whatever.bat". Then find it in Windows explorer and double click on
it. Does it open in the application you used to create it? No, it
runs it as a batch file. The same kind of thing happens on UNIX
systems with a GUI, except that instead of keying off the file
extension, it distinguishes these files with an execute bit in the
file permissions. MetaCard stacks have this bit set on UNIX systems
so they can be run directly from the command line, or by
double-clicking on them in a GUI file browser. The icon used to
display them is the same as for other scripts and batch files on
Windows (usually a generic executable icon with a "gear" in it).
Regards,
Scott
>
> Regards, Andu
> _______________________
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
********************************************************
Scott Raney [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.metacard.com
MetaCard: You know, there's an easier way to do that...
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