Usenet 1994 January/usenetsourcesnewsgroupsinfomagicjanuary1994.iso/sources/std_unix/volume.20/text0037.txt

Internet Message Format | 1990-08-02 | 1.2 KB

From:  [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>   getopt()  This functional interface provides a standard utility
>             argument parser that enforces the ``standard utility
>             syntax'' guidelines and might be used to implement the
>             getopts utility from POSIX.2.

Might it not be time to "push the envelope" as 1003.4 has done, and specify
Eric Allman's far superior "parseargs" interface? Getopt really doesn't do
that much: a command line parser using getopt is only slightly simpler than
one assembled completely out of a nested loop, and it doesn't do anything
to help generate usage messages and the like... with the result that usage
messages that are out of date are not that uncommon, even in system programs.

Parseargs also helps by providing a system-independent interface, more so
if you use my extended version of the unix driver routine. That way folks
who work in other environments will be encouraged to produce programs that
follow the P1003.2 interface when compiled under POSIX... and POSIX programs
will fit well into VAX/VMS, MS-DOS, etc...
--
Peter da Silva.   `-_-'
[phone].
<[e-mail]>

Volume-Number: Volume 20, Number 37