From: Mail@JoesLife.org   
      
   Hello Slackers,   
      
   What is a wedge?  I'm looking for a term to describe something that I use.   
      
   It is code that I wrote, and I'm wondering if it has a category or if it   
   is something new.   
      
   I would like to call it a wedge, because I found online a reference to   
   code for the Commodore 64 that was called by that name.  I believe it was   
   code that augmented the existing Commodore 64 command set.  Anyway, that   
   is how I mean to use the term, except that I am augmenting the existing   
   Slackware command set.   
      
   I'm sorry if this is drifting into the gray zone of the esoteric.  Maybe   
   it will help if I tell you how this got started:   
      
   I was an engineer working for General Dynamics Corporation, Space Systems   
   Division in San Diego.  I was in the Advanced Structures Analysis group,   
   and I was responsible for creating/maintaining an interface to a   
   collection of analysis software.  This was in about 1986, and we were   
   using a variety of computers that included networked *nix machines.  I   
   think they were called Apollo Workstations, and they ran a Unix-like   
   system called Domain.   
      
   To make a long story short:  I have system on my PC which I call SAM.  It   
   is a descendant of the Structural Analysis Menu that I wrote years   
   previous.  It is a collection of Bash scripts and functions with a few C   
   language executables thrown in for good measure.   
      
   So why does this matter? (Forgive me for taking so long to get to the   
   point.)  As a Slackware Linux user I make extensive use of the command   
   line.  I don't know how *you* manage the awesome complexity of the   
   command line, but I have found it useful to write a set of commands that   
   augment the existing Slackware command set.  This wouldn't be   
   particularly interesting except that I did it in a novel way.   
      
   The traditional way of managing such a set of commands is to dump them   
   in /usr/local/bin or some other dir which is in the PATH.  But what if   
   some of the commands actively managed the current environment including   
   the PATH?  Then any dir could contain your new commands.   
      
   That is what I have done.  I have "gone down the rabbit hole".  SAM is   
   useful.  I use it to create interactive collections of executables of all   
   kinds--mainly bash scripts and functions, but also C language executables   
   and Python scripts.  (But any exectuable could be included.)   
      
   So I ask you--what is a wedge?  Is SAM a wedge? Is there a better name   
   for it.   
      
   -Joe   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)