Guido van Rossum <guido@digicool.com>:
> Supporting CML2 was one of the reasons to keep curses in the core, but
> not the only one. Linux kernel configuration is so far removed from
> my daily use of computers that I don't have a good way to judge its
> importance in the grand scheme of things. Since you obviously
> consider it very important, and since I generally trust your judgement
> (except on the issue of firearms :-), your plea for keeping, and
> improving, curses support in the Python core made a difference in my
> decision. And don't worry, I don't expect to change that decision
> -- though I personally still find it curious that curses is so important.
> I find curses-style user interfaces pretty pathetic, and wished that
> Linux migrated to a real GUI for configuration. (And the linuxconf
> approach does *not* qualify as a a real GUI. :-)
Thank you, that makes your priorities much clearer.
Actually I agree with you that curses interfaces are mostly pretty
pathetic. A lot of people still like them, though, because they tend
to be fast and lightweight. Then, too, a really well-designed curses
interface can in fact be good enough that the usability gain from
GUIizing is marginal. My favorite examples of this are mutt and slrn.
The fact that GUI programs have failed to make much headway against
this is not simply due to user conservatism, it's genuinely hard to
see how a GUI interface could be made significantly better.
And unfortunately, there is a niche where it is still important to
support curses interfacing independently of anyone's preferences in
interface style -- early in the system-configuration process before
one has bootstrapped to the point where X is reliably available. I
hasten to add that this is not just *my* problem -- one of your
more important Python constituencies in a practical sense is
the guys who maintain Red Hat's installer.
> I was totally serious though: my personal satisfaction doesn't come
> from Python world domination. Others seem have that goal, and if it
> doesn't inconvenience me too much I'll play along, but in the end I've
> got some goals in my personal life that are much more important.
There speaks the new husband :-). OK. So what *do* you want from Python?
Personally, BTW, my goal is not exactly Python world domination either
-- it's that the world should be dominated by the language that has
the least tendency to produce grotty fragile code (remember that I
tend to obsess about the software-quality problem :-)). Right now
that's Python.
--
<a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>
The people of the various provinces are strictly forbidden to have in their
possession any swords, short swords, bows, spears, firearms, or other types
of arms. The possession of unnecessary implements makes difficult the
collection of taxes and dues and tends to foment uprisings.
-- Toyotomi Hideyoshi, dictator of Japan, August 1588
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