3 ms·

ed is the way that it is in part because many users in the late 70s had a really slow modem and a printing terminal, and memory was minimal, so just ? was seen

by not2b 5y ago

ed is the way that it is in part because many users in the late 70s had a really slow modem and a printing terminal, and memory was minimal, so just ? was seen as a good error message.

kragen 5y ago
Early 70s, and it wasn't with a modem. I think the typical Teletype baud rates were 45.45 baud, 110 baud, and 300 baud. Having to wait half a second for your Teletype to type out a 15-character error message that tells you what you already know is the opposite of user-friendly. (Later, yes, people were using 300-baud modems, but that wasn't how Unix was originally developed.)
RegW 5y ago
May be. However, my memory is of 2 factors that made line editors like ed necessary. 1. The keyboard mechanics and having paper as the output medium made typing very slow. That's probably why all the commands were short (ls, mv, rm, etc). Coding was not the stream of consciousness you might experience today. You would have to hold a load of stuff in your head (and ignore interruptions) as you slowly typed it out. 2. The paper only ever advances upwards. If you make a mistake there is no up arrow. Your easiest option may be to use the delete command and type the whole line again. Hopefully someone will give you one of those paper cheat sheet summarizing all the editor commands soon. I wonder how many potential computer geniuses dropped out of CS at this point. Imagine you are at the command line and you take a few minutes to quickly type: $ cp inupt_KJuusiwbHSgh.txt output_HswbXVfgawYuq.txt cp: cannot stat 'inupt_KJuusiwbHSgh.txt': No such file or directory Rats! You didn't notice that you mistyped "input". What now? You can't do copy and paste from paper! Well you could use the line editor: $ !!:s/up/pu cp input_KJuusiwbHSgh.txt output_HswbXVfgawYuq.txt Job done.
wrycoder 5y ago
When I started programming as part of my job in 1967, there were no screen editors. I used a teletype terminal (ASR33) with a paper tape to load and save my work. Line editors like ed were the way to go. You’d keep the state of the program in your head and type out sections of it once in awhile to confirm your conception. Maybe print the whole thing once an hour.

by not2b 5y ago

ed is the way that it is in part because many users in the late 70s had a really slow modem and a printing terminal, and memory was minimal, so just ? was seen as a good error message.

kragen 5y ago

Early 70s, and it wasn't with a modem. I think the typical Teletype baud rates were 45.45 baud, 110 baud, and 300 baud. Having to wait half a second for your Teletype to type out a 15-character error message that tells you what you already know is the opposite of user-friendly. (Later, yes, people were using 300-baud modems, but that wasn't how Unix was originally developed.)

RegW 5y ago

May be. However, my memory is of 2 factors that made line editors like ed necessary. 1. The keyboard mechanics and having paper as the output medium made typing very slow. That's probably why all the commands were short (ls, mv, rm, etc). Coding was not the stream of consciousness you might experience today. You would have to hold a load of stuff in your head (and ignore interruptions) as you slowly typed it out. 2. The paper only ever advances upwards. If you make a mistake there is no up arrow. Your easiest option may be to use the delete command and type the whole line again. Hopefully someone will give you one of those paper cheat sheet summarizing all the editor commands soon. I wonder how many potential computer geniuses dropped out of CS at this point. Imagine you are at the command line and you take a few minutes to quickly type: $ cp inupt_KJuusiwbHSgh.txt output_HswbXVfgawYuq.txt cp: cannot stat 'inupt_KJuusiwbHSgh.txt': No such file or directory Rats! You didn't notice that you mistyped "input". What now? You can't do copy and paste from paper! Well you could use the line editor: $ !!:s/up/pu cp input_KJuusiwbHSgh.txt output_HswbXVfgawYuq.txt Job done.

wrycoder 5y ago

When I started programming as part of my job in 1967, there were no screen editors. I used a teletype terminal (ASR33) with a paper tape to load and save my work. Line editors like ed were the way to go. You’d keep the state of the program in your head and type out sections of it once in awhile to confirm your conception. Maybe print the whole thing once an hour.