Date : Tue, 27 Jul 2010 05:07:35 +0200
From : rick@... (Rick Murray)
Subject: Spitting expletives
On 27/07/2010 01:33, Pete Turnbull wrote:
>> .bas is the standard extension for textual representation of BASIC (*any*
>> BASIC) code. If some application decide to stupidly associate themselves
>> with it and try to execute it, that's their stupid fault.
> I'm with Jonathan. .bas is the accepted extension for all sorts of
> BASIC files, and using something else is only going to cause confusion
> elsewhere.
This is, however, a bit like saying that double-clicking &FFF files
under RISC OS should not open it in !Edit (system default) or !Zap (etc)
if it has subsequently hijacked the runtype. Instead you should load
your editor, and then load the file into that.
Crap. That's so eighties. Now we want to double-click a file and have
the necessary program appear and the file load. End of.
I am, I should point out, partly (but only partly) in agreement with
both of you, but I can nod towards an army of people who want their
computers To Just Work.
> Double-clicking is supposed to "run" a file or cause it to
> be executed;
How do you "run" a non-runnable file?
> if the only BASIC interpreter you have is the VB executable
> and it tries to load the file you double-clicked, well that's because
> the doubler-clicker was daft enough to do an inappropriate thing :-)
On the other hand, there is a lurking Epic Fail in blindly assuming that
.bas means a BASIC file. True, it does, but when you get to the bits and
bytes, that's about as useful as saying .exe is an executable file, and
lumping in 6502 code, &FF8, some ELFs, and a couple of Amiga programs
too. Well, they're all executables...
...just like I can show you five or so completely different ideas of
BASIC files on my PC.
> Or you could right-click, select "browse", find your favourite
> editor, and set that as the permanent opener for .bas files.
I would, but I can't be bothered. What I don't get is VB doesn't do a
lot with .bas on its own (they're better arranged in conjunction with
forms and vbp project files), so why does it bother claiming this type
in the first place? Usually trying to run a .bas results in VB opening a
NEW project containing the .bas - doubly wrong.
> Of course the really appropriate thing is not to use Windows, as I've
> just been reminded.
Not helpful.
Linux multimedia support is iffy, if even it works at all "out of the
box" ("patent" encumbrances, not an issue to us in Europe, but the Big
Players are in a backwards country where fighting such things make a lot
more money than the innovations they describe); not to mention some
quirky configuration issues, and trying to support my printer/scanner
looks like being a hellish nightmare so I simply won't bother (downloaf
this, patch this, merge that into that, recompile this, and ... blah
blah blah). Besides, where's the easy-to-use IDE for programming under
Linux? Visual-anything? There are many cool features (legendary
stability and Ubuntu's whole-platform auto-update system that piddles on
everything else ever devised, ever ever ever...) but it lacks as many
things as it offers. It has made huge advances in the last decade. In
another decade it might rival Windows on user-friendliness. In another
decade you might buy a bit of kit and have Linux drivers as standard, as
opposed to the exception.
RISC OS... friendly, lovely processor, OS that seems like a beacon of
sanity in the world. How's YouTube look these days? Or, for that matter,
JavaScript and CSS of any *current* flavour?
Apple - they're overpriced awesome-looking status boxes. The recent
iPhone 4 antenna sitcom (!) just shows some people are perfectly willing
to put up with less quality so long as they can flaunt the "I have
Apple!" angle. Good for you... I guess...
Any other contenders?
> The first time I sent this reply, my PC contrived to send it to a
> different mailing list (where it started a whole separate thread).
:-)
As opposed to a misconfigured mailer under netbsd that spits out
messages from me as "richard@..." and drops everything incoming
on the floor. It's why heyrick.co.uk does not have mail facilities. It
was good like that eight years ago when my spam level was ~100 msgs a
day and my internet access was measured in semesters (you do the maths!
;-) ), but I oughta see if I can get that sorted out now...
Everything can make mistakes. There's no such thing as a perfect
computer, for there's no such thing as a perfect person to build it.
Best wishes,
Rick.
--
Rick Murray, eeePC901 & ADSL WiFI'd into it, all ETLAs!
BBC B: DNFS, 2 x 5.25" floppies, EPROM prog, Acorn TTX
E01S FileStore, A3000/A5000/RiscPC/various PCs/blahblah...