AWK - OT: Re: Problem with awk using shell variables

Author

OT: Re: Problem with awk using shell variables

Ed Morton

2004-12-24, 8:55 pm

William James wrote:
> I am perfectly willing to send posters of DOS questions to
> comp.os.msdos.

And what kind of awk solution do you expect them to find there? You
rarely see anyone posting a question here and getting an OS-specific
solution. What they get here is a good awk solution, and oh-by-the-way,
here's how to invoke it from your particular OS. What you're proposing
sends posters off to a group with far fewer awk "experts" participating,
probably getting a bad solution, thinking awk stinks and going off to
find out what all the perl fuss is about.

> However, it seems that the unix hierophants are unwilling
> to stop discussing unix issues at great length and to take
> it to comp.unix.shell.

Nonsense. You rarely see UNIX issues discussed at any length in this NG,
never mind at "great length". As soon as the subject veers off awk (e.g.
to sed solutions), there's always a quick OT redirection.

> Let's put it to the test. From now on the rule is
> "Don't post solutions that work on only one type of system."

So, can we post solutions that work on Linux, FreeBSD, and UNIX? We
can't tell people how to invoke awk from EVERY OS every time we answer a
question so should we only post awk scripts but never tell people how to
invoke them from any OS? Brilliant!

> People who come here for Awk information shouldn't
> have to separate what they need from a bewildering mass
> of details that pertain to an operating system that
> is alien and irrelevant to them.

People who come here for Awk information shouldn't be sent off to some
other NG where they're far less likely to get awk help.

This is my last posting on the subject.

Ed.

Steve Calfee

2004-12-25, 3:55 am

On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 16:08:25 -0600, Ed Morton <morton@lsupcaemnt.com>
wrote:

>
>
>William James wrote:
>
>And what kind of awk solution do you expect them to find there? You
>rarely see anyone posting a question here and getting an OS-specific
>solution. What they get here is a good awk solution, and oh-by-the-way,
>here's how to invoke it from your particular OS. What you're proposing
>sends posters off to a group with far fewer awk "experts" participating,
>probably getting a bad solution, thinking awk stinks and going off to
>find out what all the perl fuss is about.
>
>
>Nonsense. You rarely see UNIX issues discussed at any length in this NG,
>never mind at "great length". As soon as the subject veers off awk (e.g.
>to sed solutions), there's always a quick OT redirection.
>
>
>So, can we post solutions that work on Linux, FreeBSD, and UNIX? We
>can't tell people how to invoke awk from EVERY OS every time we answer a
>question so should we only post awk scripts but never tell people how to
>invoke them from any OS? Brilliant!
>
>
>People who come here for Awk information shouldn't be sent off to some
>other NG where they're far less likely to get awk help.
>
>This is my last posting on the subject.
>
> Ed.

This is the friendliest newsgroup I read. It answers awk questions and
questions about a specific environment that awk runs on. Ed Morton is
great with useful, helpful answers. Other common posters have an edge
and seem to post just to generate debate.

I would hate to see it degenerate into something like comp.lang.c
where any question about C that relates to a real world problem is
pounced on and the poster berated for asking that non-C question.
There are large numbers of C.L.C NG readers who only post stuff about
the current post being off topic! In that NG it seems the only
"legitimate" topics are "C Standard xx" questions.

This NG has a softer edge where questions of "how do I do something
with awk on XYZ OS" are helpfully answered with useful feedback. As
long as the core of the answer or question is awk based, I think it is
fitting and proper for people who want to help to give input. I learn
a lot about the does and don'ts for awk even for OSes I will never
use.

Regards ~Steve

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