Re: Annoying zsh completion

[Ray Andrews <rayandrews@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> As Peter said, your problem is clearly in correction.  I just
> mentioned that zstyle as it can also impact similar behavior in the
> completion realm.  To get to the bottom of your issue, I would start
> by answering the questions Bart asked.
This might not be the place for it but let me just rant a little bit: It 
seems to me that all sh's are suffering from something that you might 
call syntax implosion. The native syntax/grammar is so complicated, and 
so full of little tweeks and 'features' and gotchas and exceptions and 
so on, that it looks to me like it's become an intractable mess that is 
collapsing under its own weight.   It gets to the point where the layers 
and layers of patches and fixes are now beyond anyone's comprehension. 
It reminds me of the American government that is now so bloated and 
corrupt and huge and unmanageable that 'repair' becomes impossible and 
we just have to wait for the inevitable meltdown and then start again 
with a clean sheet of paper.  I've heard that perl suffers from the same 
general problem.

For me, after a few months learning (trying to learn) bash, and now zsh, 
it is such a pleasure to return to C, where the essential syntax is dead 
simple, and where all 'complexities' are handled, not by the syntax of C 
itself, but by functions:

MyFantasicStringExtractor(str1, inta, intb, charx, ....)

That does whatever you want it to in the way of all that string 
extraction, replacement stuff that makes up 1/2 of sh grammar -- but 
does it without burdening the syntax of C in even the slightest way. The 
function stands on its own. Want to use it? Read the definition and know 
how it works.  Or replace it with something better - C *itself* doesn't 
care. Because C itself is so simple and robust, there are no gotchas, no 
need for patches no fuss, no muss, no bother.

Sorry, I won't do it again unless you guys say it's OK.

Ray