Re: Life, universe, and ION3

> I'm really using, and not significantly faster than a Run:
> dialog (mod1-F3 in the default bindings).

Nice would be somethings like *tools* ... as in Oberon^1.

Reference is: The Oberon System^2

     [C]ommands are entered into a text *viewer* and then
     executed with the mouse. It is therefore quite natural to
     prepare a set of frequently used commands in a text which is
     stored on disk. Such a text is called a *tool*. [Commands
     may be embedded anywhere in a text.]

     [W]hen displayed, a tool is quite similar to a menu. A set
     of commands is listed and the user simply executes them
     with the mouse. However, if the commands request parameter
     input, there is no need for complex (modal) input or dialog
     boxes. We deal with an editable text and the parameter can
     be easily entered, thus recovering the flexibility of the
     'remember and type' environment.

     [T]he [Oberon] screen is tiled in non-overlapping windows
     termed *viewers*. Viewers are stacked in two piles called
     *tracks*. Each viewer displays a document being processed by
     the users. Documents may be texts, graphics or pictures.

     [W]hile the display shown appears familiar there is a
     fundamental difference of deep significance: *the modality
     of texts has been abolished*. What looks like menus in the
     title bars of the viewers is text too, no different from the
     editable text of the main viewer area.

     [I]f a command produces output to the screen, a new text
     viewer is opened with the command's output text. Again,
     this text may be edited, stored or printed. Oberon commands
     produce *non-volatile* output.

     [A] user, looking at the screen of a typical computer
     terminal or personal computer, sees, most of the time, lines
     of text. He or she has mastered the concept of the cursor, a
     point where text can be entered or deleted.

     [H]owever, the user will quickly learn that text is not
     text. It is *volatile* text in the sense that it cannot
     be saved, printed or edited. Text can only be entered in
     the bottom line in which case it is a command. This user
     has discovered that text is *modal*: it is either a system
     message or editable text or a command.

     [L]ater generations of software introduced menus: commands
     are displayed in lists, ready for execution by pointing.
     However, menus are distinct from editable texts. If a menu
     command requests parameters, a so-called dialog box is
     opened. A new mode is entered. The user must complete the
     box before he or she is allowed to continue.

     [T]he Oberon user interface departs radically from the
     standard models. The concepts of the command line and of
     menus are absent. Instead, there is simply one kind of text
     which behaves as an intelligent person not yet spoiled
     by so-called 'computer-literacy' would expect: it can be
     changed, edited, printed and stored. "Text is a text,
     nothing more, nothing less."


Okay, and how does a typical Oberon display look?

                     Tracks [two piles]
     +----------------------------------------+--------------+
     |                                        |              |
     |                                        |              |
     +----------------------------------------+              |
     |                                        |              |
     |                                        +--------------+
     |                                        |              |
     |                                        |              |
     |                                        |              |
     |                                        +--------------+
     +----------------------------------------+              |
     |                                        |              |
     +----------------------------------------+              |
     |                                        |              |
     |                                        |              |
     |     |                                  |   |          |
     +----- ----------------------------------+--- ----------+
           |                                      |
           |                                      |
          viewer[i]                              tool[j]



     1. Niklaus Wirth et al., many titles: Programming in Oberon,
Project Oberon, etc.

     2. Martin Reiser, The Oberon System: User Guide and
Programmer's Manual (New York, New York: ACM Press 1991; ISBN
0-201-54422-9)


/Roy
-- 
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