Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 09:55:42 -0500 (EST)
From: "Norman D. Megill" <ndm AT shore DOT net>
Message-Id: <199901221455.JAA24071@northshore.shore.net>
To: eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il, ndm AT shore DOT net
Subject: Re: djgpp loses characters when pasting to DOS
Cc: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com

Thanks for your response.  I found the problem, which you can see in
the follow-up post I just made.

> What's the *real* problem you are trying to solve?  Do you really need to
> invoke programs by pasting text into a DOS box?  If not, maybe this
> lossage, whatever causes it, is utmostly irrelevant for the real problem?

As far as why I need to cut-and-paste, I am doing theoretical work in
the field of orthomodular lattices (quantum logic) and have various
custom programs to test conjectures.  I often work with equations in a
text editor, sometimes while I'm writing my journal articles (in LaTeX),
make small changes, and paste them to DOS to test or verify them.  Some
of these are quick-and-dirty throwaway programs, others are specialized
theorem-proving programs I've written, none of which are available
commercially nor would there be any interest in them once I've completed
my work.  The programs are not nor are intended to be elegant works of
art.  This method allows me to work as efficiently as possible - putting
the equations in a batch file, for example, would require extra steps
and distract from my train of thought.  And of course writing a fancy
interactive interface a'la Mathematica for a single-use program would
seem silly.

As for speed, djgpp seems 2x to 10x faster than lcc, meaning I might
have to wait only 1 minute instead of 5 minutes to see a conjecture
falsified.  For this kind of mathematical work it makes a tremendous
difference to get feedback as quickly as possible.

So, given my situation, does that explain it for you?

Regards,
Norm