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No. The LEAP Technology was one of the more obvious differences with previous text environments. For me, the more interesting feature of the Cat / Swyft is it
by retrocryptid 4y ago
No. The LEAP Technology was one of the more obvious differences with previous text environments. For me, the more interesting feature of the Cat / Swyft is it loads the environment exactly where you were when you last saved it to disk. Sure, MacOS-X and Chrome do a half-hearted attempt to do the same thing these days, but in 1987 this was a revolutionary idea.
My guess is they focused on the LEAP stuff 'cause you can't make a whole video about booting up to where you last left off.
Other things I like about my Cat:
* Integrated FORTH development environment.
* After getting used to the "text / document oriented interface" I kind of like it. I turn my Cat on and just start typing. Later on I figure out where I want to move that text to.
* The dual cursor thing makes it easy to figure out what you're going to delete when you press either delete or backspace (one deletes the character in front of the "regular" cursor, the other deletes the character under the "regular" cursor.)
But a few things I don't like:
* I love LEAP, but would also love to have had arrow keys.
* Connectivity to my leenucks box is kind of bad. I had to write my own FORTH comms package.
* Importing other people's code into your environment is a confusing process of swapping disks and trying to not confuse yourself or your Cat.
And Surprisingly:
* I've had my Cat for decades and I've yet to lose data. Just remember to hit the "Disk" control key before ejecting the floppy and you'll be fine.
* Virtually all my floppies still work.