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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!howland.reston.ans.net!psinntp!psinntp!psinntp!psinntp!jusdnews.fir.fbc.com!fitt-85.fir.fbc.com!mfischbe From: mfischbe@fir.fbc.com (Mike Fischbein) Newsgroups: alt.unix.wizards,comp.unix.admin,comp.unix.advocacy,comp.unix.aix,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.solaris,comp.unix.ultrix Subject: Re: A challenge Followup-To: alt.unix.wizards,comp.unix.admin,comp.unix.advocacy,comp.unix.aix,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.solaris,comp.unix.ultrix Date: 21 Dec 1995 17:57:32 GMT Organization: CS First Boston Corporation Lines: 32 Distribution: inet Message-ID: <4bc76c$334@jusdnews.fir.fbc.com> References: <4b4q0l$pc3@news.inc.net> <4b5e2r$nma@shocker.mid.net> <4b9kvv$ria@hecate.umd.edu> <4bbuqlINN9l1@keats.ugrad.cs.ubc.ca> NNTP-Posting-Host: fitt-85.fir.fbc.com X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au alt.unix.wizards:2468 comp.unix.admin:36294 comp.unix.advocacy:12470 comp.unix.aix:67019 comp.unix.bsd.misc:392 comp.unix.solaris:55150 comp.unix.ultrix:26570 Kazimir Kylheku (c2a192@ugrad.cs.ubc.ca) wrote: : In article <4b9kvv$ria@hecate.umd.edu>, Ed Schmahl <ed@astro.umd.edu> wrote: : > : > : >Here's a question (possibly useful, possibly stupid) that none of the : >Unix wizards I know have been able to answer. Let's see if anyone on : >the Net has any suggestions. : > : >Say we've got a (gasp) Fortran program that outputs data to a file called : >R:foobar. The program compiles fine on VMS and DOS operating systems, but not : There is your problem. Your program should be open-ended enough so that the : user can specify the output file or have the output sent to the standard : output. Even if the output is binary, you should support piping---look at the : programs tar, cpio, dd, xwd... : You can use a command-line option to specify the filename, or an environment : variable. If the program requires a lot of settings, you might want to to give : it the ability to read them from a configuration file. There's the answer - some minimal standard of program design. See? Because you tried to port this to Unix, that old problem where today's run wiped out yesterday's results is over. mike -- Mike Fischbein mfischbe@fir.fbc.com CS First Boston Any opinions expressed are mine only, and not necessarily those of any other entity. They may not even be mine.