From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jun 6 09:46:54 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CECC31065674 for ; Sat, 6 Jun 2009 09:46:54 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mail25@bzerk.org) Received: from ei.bzerk.org (tunnel490.ipv6.xs4all.nl [IPv6:2001:888:10:1ea::2]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3A6A28FC1E for ; Sat, 6 Jun 2009 09:46:54 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mail25@bzerk.org) Received: from ei.bzerk.org (BOFH@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ei.bzerk.org (8.14.2/8.14.2) with ESMTP id n569knsB011079; Sat, 6 Jun 2009 11:46:49 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from mail25@bzerk.org) Received: (from bulk@localhost) by ei.bzerk.org (8.14.2/8.14.2/Submit) id n569km5c011078; Sat, 6 Jun 2009 11:46:48 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from mail25@bzerk.org) Date: Sat, 6 Jun 2009 11:46:48 +0200 From: Ruben de Groot To: Kirk Strauser Message-ID: <20090606094648.GA10672@ei.bzerk.org> Mail-Followup-To: Ruben de Groot , Kirk Strauser , utisoft@gmail.com, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <200906050924.23167.kirk@strauser.com> <200906051208.43135.kirk@strauser.com> <4A29EBB7.9090100@strauser.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <4A29EBB7.9090100@strauser.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.1 required=5.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, J_CHICKENPOX_73 autolearn=no version=3.2.5 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.5 (2008-06-10) on ei.bzerk.org X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.0.1 (ei.bzerk.org [127.0.0.1]); Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:46:52 +0200 (CEST) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, utisoft@gmail.com Subject: Re: Date representation as YY/DDD or YYYY/DDD X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:46:55 -0000 On Fri, Jun 05, 2009 at 11:08:23PM -0500, Kirk Strauser typed: > Chris Rees wrote: > > >Traditional: > > > >% tar xzvf bluurgh.tgz > > > >GNU recommended: > > > >$ tar --extract --verbose --gunzip --file bluurgh.tgz > > > >Seriously, why are long options encouraged? > > Scripting. I almost always use long options when writing scripts I > might use again later so that 6 months later I don't have to remember > what some single-letter option meant. I pretty much never use them on > the command line, though. Agreed, the long options *as an alternative* can be descriptive in scripts, tutorials, howto's etc. The other reason often mentioned, there being not enough letters in the alphabet to cover all possible options, in my opinion advocates bloated software (one program can do it all), which goes against the Unix paradigm of making small programs that do one task exceptionally well and just chaining these together. Ruben