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The design of an object‐oriented command interpreter
Author(s) -
Budd Timothy A.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
software: practice and experience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1097-024X
pISSN - 0038-0644
DOI - 10.1002/spe.4380190105
Subject(s) - computer science , smalltalk , programming language , interpreter , casual , programmer , unix , construct (python library) , object oriented programming , object (grammar) , software development , shell (structure) , software , software engineering , artificial intelligence , materials science , composite material
Object‐oriented programming languages are noted for their ability to allow users quickly to construct large software systems. They achieve this ability by allowing the programmer to concentrate on what it is they want to do, ignoring details of how that functionality is achieved. Such characteristics should make the object‐oriented style of programming attractive to casual or novice computer users, indeed one of the best known object‐oriented programming languages, Smalltalk, was initially designed with just such novice users in mind. The Unix operating system is widely regarded as a good environment for doing software development. Nevertheless, its large number of often terse and cryptic commands make it difficult for novice or casual users to use. In this paper we argue that one solution is to create an object‐oriented command interpreter, or shell, between the user and the underlying system. This paper reports on the construction of one such prototype shell, and the lessons we have learned from the use of this system.