The "loop and a half"

[Marko Rauhamaa]

bartc <bc at freeuk.com>:

>> Personally, I think stdin is a bit lame as a stimulus source for an
>> interactive program. That's not even what stdin is primarily meant for;
>> stdin is meant to be the input data for a job. Similarly, stdout is
>> meant to be the result of the computation. Stderr, then, is used to
>> deliver optional diagnostic messages, ie, metainfo about the
>> computation.
>
> You really need punched tape or cards for input and output to get the
> full effect. Complete with all the sound effects. Sadly when I came into
> it, we were using mag-tape for input (with a variety of outputs).
>
> The clatter of an ASR33 printing your results was also a treat.

There you go! You got the idea. Keep that in your head when you are
programming with stdin and stdout.


Marko