Oi! I'm missing e-mails! On Sunday 12 Jun 2016 23:07:09 Andrew Lowe wrote: > On 06/12/16 22:43, Alan McKinnon wrote:
I haven't received Alan's e-mail. > > On 12/06/2016 16:33, Nico Verrijdt wrote: > >> Hi Andrew, > >> > >> 2016-06-12 16:26 GMT+02:00 Andrew Lowe <a...@wht.com.au > >> > >> <mailto:a...@wht.com.au>>: > >> Hi all, > >> > >> A bit off topic here, but there are plenty of people who > >> > >> seem to know their shells back to front so here goes. > >> > >> I have set up a Win32 based development environment, > >> > >> bash/cc/ls/etc/etc, for 1st year Engineering students who have to > >> learn C on a command line. It's fine for me to remember to put the > >> & > >> at the end of the command when I fire up the editor but for them, > >> it's major angst. > >> > >> The first thing that comes to mind is an alias. Just off > >> > >> the top of my head I tried: > >> alias "npp=npp %1 &" > >> > >> Shouldn't this be: alias npp="npp %1 &" ? > >> > >> npp being the editor, but that didn't work. Is an alias the > >> best/easiest way to do this and if so, what would the syntax be, or > >> is there a better way? > >> > >> Any thoughts, greatly appreciated, > >> > >> Andrew > >> > >> Hope this helps, > >> Nico > > > > Or just tell them to remember to add the & at the end. > > With an alias what will they do when they don't want it? > > > > Or look at it this way: > > > > It's syntax, it's important. C is probably more syntax-critical than any > > other language around (binds to the right, anyone?) so what's the > > problem with requiring correct syntax on the command line as well? > > > > Obligatory disclaimer: I've recently had a bellyache full of dumb people > > who insist I put code when a human (themselves) belongs... > > Yes, I agree BUT, this is a "half subject" in a common first year of an > Engineering degree. These are people who will become > Civil/Mechanical/Electrical/Chemical Engineers and they have no desire > to learn programming. To put it bluntly, all they are interested in is > their car, getting drunk and trying to get a root - the order may vary, > but that is the top three priorities. Anything else is just too much to > think about. > > In reality, I'm doing this to make my life easier. As much as I tell > them to do something, write up documents that tell them what to do and > reiterate what they have to do, I still get the question "It's broken, > it won't do as I want...." > > Andrew > > p.s. Nico's point was a typo on my part in the email. Now that's a classic debug case - where are these messages being dropped? It's the second time I've noticed it in this list today. -- Rgds Peter
