Why is there no platform independent way of clearing a terminal?

[Mark Lawrence]

On 02/08/2010 16:41, Benjamin Kaplan wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 8:21 AM, Mark Lawrence<breamoreboy at yahoo.co.uk>wrote:
>
>> On 01/08/2010 12:10, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>
>>> In message<mailman.1383.1280649150.1673.python-list at python.org>, Mark
>>> Lawrence wrote:
>>>
>>>   On 01/08/2010 08:18, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>>>
>>>>   In message<mailman.1382.1280646210.1673.python-list at python.org>, Mark
>>>>> Lawrence wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>   On 01/08/2010 07:50, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>   In message<mailman.1381.1280643817.1673.python-list at python.org>, Mark
>>>>>>> Lawrence wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>   Personally I find double clicking on an msi file rather easier.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Easier than apt-get dist-upgrade?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm sorry but I only do English, could you please translate. :)
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I run Debian Unstable, which has new goodies coming out on a weekly
>>>>> basis. The last time I checked for updates, there were over 500 packages
>>>>> I had installed for which updates were available. It only took a command
>>>>> like the above to upgrade them all.
>>>>>
>>>>> How many .msi files would you have to click on to achieve the Windows
>>>>> equivalent?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ... I simply couldn't cope with over 500 installed packages.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Precisely my point. Go back to playing with your .msi toys.
>>>
>>> Oh, and<http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1995-06-24/>.
>>>
>>
>> Repeating what was obviously deliberately snipped.
>>
>> "No idea, but your mental capacity is clearly infinitely higher than mine,
>> as I simply couldn't cope with over 500 installed packages.  What do they
>> all do, make your lunch and fetch the beer from the fridge amongst other
>> things?"
>>
>> How does any user or an admin cope with 500 packages?  Can Python help
>> here, assume an eight hour working day?
>>
>> c:\Python31\Lib>python
>> Python 3.1.2 (r312:79149, Mar 21 2010, 00:41:52) [MSC v.1500 32 bit
>> (Intel)] on win32
>> Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>>> 8*60*60/500
>> 57.6
>>
>> So every working day you have 57.6 seconds to use each package. Strangely I
>> don't think anyone will get too much done.  Am I in cloud cuckoo land or are
>> you?
>>
>>
> You seem to be mistaken as to what a "package" is.
>
> Python :
> * python
> * python-minimal
> * python2.6
> * libbz2
> * libc6
> * libdb4.8
> * libncursesw5
> * libreadline6
> * mime-support
> * python2.6-minimal
> * libssl0.9.8
> * zlib1g
> * debconf
> * perl-base
> * dpkg
> * coreutils
> * lzma
> * libacl1
> * libattr1
> * libselinux1
> * libgcc1
> * libstdc++6
> * gcc-4.4-base
> * libncurses5
> * readline-common
>
> So these are the packages needed just to run Python in Ubuntu. It doesn't
> include the packages required for the kernel, the desktop environment, the
> window manager, the terminal, and whatever else you want running. In my
> fairly clean Ubuntu VM (I use it almost exclusively for testing), I have
> close to 1500 packages installed.
>
>> --
>> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>>
>

I'll stick with my msi files and/or windows update then, unless I have 
the luck to get back to VMS.  As I said earlier it strikes me that this 
*nix stuff is simply archaic.

Kindest regards.

Mark Lawrence.