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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!iol!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!awfulhak.demon.co.uk!awfulhak.demon.co.uk!awfulhak.demon.co.uk!not-for-mail From: brian@awfulhak.demon.co.uk (Brian Somers) Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc Subject: Re: How to delete files within C programs Followup-To: comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc Date: 21 May 1996 17:08:56 +0100 Organization: Coverform Ltd. Lines: 68 Distribution: world Message-ID: <4nspqo$r9@anorak.coverform.lan> References: <Oum-El-Kheir.Benkahla-3004961724540001@mac-ugm-3.imag.fr> <4n76vv$29j@innocence.interface-business.de> <kaleb.832080109@exalt> <4naf20$bdh@news.rhrz.uni-bonn.de> <DrEv0E.17A@kithrup.com> <4nb1tf$qv8@news.rhrz.uni-bonn.de> <4ncnjb$148@anorak.coverform.lan> <4nl2tm$gpj@news.rhrz.uni-bonn.de> X-NNTP-Posting-Host: awfulhak.demon.co.uk X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.misc:22998 comp.unix.bsd.misc:1101 Henry G. Juengst (juengst@saph1.physik.uni-bonn.de) wrote: : In article <4ncnjb$148@anorak.coverform.lan>, brian@awfulhak.demon.co.uk (Brian Somers) writes: : >Henry G. Juengst (juengst@saph1.physik.uni-bonn.de) wrote: : > : >: I do not want to deny that it is possible to find the information (in : >: most cases). I just want to make people sensitive for the problems : >: of beginners and I hate answers like 'very simple solution', if it is : >: in fact not a trivial solution. People would never ask if it is simple. : > : >Not true. I know lots of people who couldn't be bothered to find out for : >themselves. They ask someone. I have no problems with such people as : >long as they remember the answer. : > : >The point is, it _IS_ a 'very simple solution'. If a person is writing : >C code under Unix, you must assume that they are using an editor. This : >almost definitely means vi or emacs. Knowing how to use these - even : >knowing how to get by with these involves a learning curve far greater : >than deleting a file (and don't start talking about links - it's : >irrelevent - the file is gone from _my_ view). : > : >If this person has problems with calling a function and passing it a : >filename - if they find it "difficult", they should not be programming. : > : >Calling unlink is a _TRIVIAL_ solution ! : You assume that all people think in the same way, which is not true. No, I agree that some may find it more difficult to remember 'unlink' than others. : Some can learn vokabularies easy, but have more problems to understand : connections. Others learn vokabularies slowly, but see the solution if : they have some assosiations. This has nothing to do with intelligence. True. : The names and the style of the unix/C functions do not offer much : assosiations (perhaps with FORTRAN 77) and systematic manner. Therefore : it is not trivial for everybody. I have taught people much more than : one decade and this is one of the conclusions I had to accept. Agreed - 'unlink' may be difficult for some to retain. That, however, is not the point. I am an experienced programmer, but still have various things escape me from time to time - I don't claim to remember everything all the time. One of the most fundamental parts of learning to program is learning how to find things out. Discovering how to remove a file in C is trivial because it should be one of the most common "sorts" of things that a programmer does. If a person has difficulty in finding out this sort of information, they should not be programming. This is not to say that the original poster should not be programming - they did after all find out what they needed to know. "Removing a file in C is really TRIVIAL because you use 'unlink'" is a statement that proves itself. The original poster has now overcome one of the first hurdles. There are many many more - but the 'unlink' one must have been one of the first and is therefore relatively trivial. : Any opinions in this mail are my own. As long as they're directly preceeded by ': '. -- Brian <brian@awfulhak.demon.co.uk> Don't _EVER_ lose your sense of humour....