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Expect can easily save your day, but only consider it as a last resort - when all better ways of interacting are not available : like web scraping, it is quite
by liotier 14y ago
Expect can easily save your day, but only consider it as a last resort - when all better ways of interacting are not available : like web scraping, it is quite fragile because the stability of the 'API' is usually far from guaranteed.
- jlgreco 14y agoYeah, I've always considered Expect to be sort of a canary. As soon as you realize that you want to use it for something, you realize that there is something rather wrong going on. Even so, if you've got to get the job done and can worry about architectural issues at a later time, expect is great.
- hn12 14y agoI couldn't agree more. I'm sufficiently involved with Expect that I've collected enough material for an entire book on the subject (serious--I do a lot of writing, and am well aware of what's involved in such a publication); at the same time, I know that jlgreco is EXACTLY right that Expect use is a symptom of a larger problem. Much of what I've already published through the years about Expect is how a particular task that used to be done with Expect now can better be handled with automation-interface-X.