Re: atf for libcurses

[Brett Lymn <blymn%baea.com.au@localhost>]

On Fri, Nov 05, 2010 at 01:09:48PM +0100, Rhialto wrote:
> 
> Isn't is the case that the command sequence issued by curses depends on
> the terminal's capabilities? For instance, it would use Clear To End Of
> Line commands if the terminal knows them, or it would overwrite with
> spaces. Direct cursor positioning commands or relative cursor movements,
> depending on distance to move and if it has those commands available.
> (Cursor Home + newlines + overtyping, if needed in extreme cases when
> most commands are lacking).
> 

Yes that is correct.

> To test all (or even a lot of) possible combinations of capabilities by
> comparing command sequences is going to be A Lot Of Work(tm). And A Lot
> Of Updating to do if curses' internal decisions change. Comparing the
> end result (appearance) to me seems to be much simpler and more to the
> point.
> 

as I pointed out before end appearance can be deceiving, how that
appearance is attained is important too.  Clearing and redrawing the
screen for every update would mean the appearance will be correct -
the efficiency would suck though.

> 
> All 2 to the power of N of them? Where N is quite large, on the order of
> the number of possible capabilities in the termcap entries (each one can
> be present, or not).
> 

I think that we can get adequate coverage with a couple of terminal
definitions, one a full featured supports everything and the other
dumb as a box of hammers.

-- 
Brett Lymn
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