Re: Scrollbar morphems?

["Jecel Mattos de Assumpcao Jr." <jecel@lsi.usp.br>]

On Wed, 6 Sep 1995 14:10:12 -0700
David.Ungar@Eng.Sun.COM (Dave Ungar) wrote:
> Jecel, you are a fellow after my own heart!

I hope so! That is how I justify to myself the extra effort
of making the language in Merlin "Self", rather than "Self-like" -
the idea that we will naturally move closer and closer in the
future.

> I too argued against accept/cancel.
> I think that an "accept" should happen after each keystroke.
> What you see should always be what is real.
> Of course, you need a more robust syntax, etc, but I think
> it is doable.
> The Tek MagPie system did this for PASCAL.

Well, the "smart editor" described in the Self docs ( file
ast.ps or something like that ) would enable you to always
have a syntax-error-free source. But it could not always
be logically correct. I don't know the MagPie system, but
I doubt you could edit the source of the running code,
could you? Editing a method in GasTank while it is running
would call up the debugger in a hurry, unlike today.

> As for scroll bars et al-- it just hit me that there is now
> NO ONE who is getting paid to maintain or improve the 
> user interface or programming environment.
> That means that if you want something like scrolling or better
> accept cancel buttons, it would be great if our users
> went ahead and improved the system in such a way that
> we could just "buy back" the changes.

There is still a contributions directory, right? But it isn't
easy to create patches that would blend in smoothly with
the official distribution.

> Of course, that means enough discussion so everyone feels
> happy, and also folks putting in time, but it would really
> be neat!

It sure would. BTW - I took a quick look at the Web Browser
code and it already has a notice that the page is complete -
sorry I hadn't seen that before. It is just that the object
saying "page... under construction" kept getting under the
page itself where I could not see it ( and did not see it
disappear as an indication that the page was done ).

-- Jecel