Re: LYNX-DEV Lynx slang vs (n)curses

[Rob Partington - Admin]

Foteos Macrides wrote:
> 
> >What is the benefit of using slang for Lynx over ncurses?  Are there any
> >Lynx benefits (memory, speed), or is it just a case of which package you
> >find easier to get installed on your system? 
> 
>       For the vanilla releases, slang allows you to use color and
> ncurses doesn't, yet.  The RP code adds color support for ncurses,
> and makes it more flexible for both ncurses and slang.

My code doesn't add color support for ncurses the same as the vanilla
slang version does - it provides for color styles (IMO more powerful than
the vanilla slang version).  The vanilla slang color support is trickery -
underline is mapped to color 1, bold to color 2, underline+bold to 3 etc.

You can get the same effect by configuring your terminal program (much
like Fote).  It's a nice hack for people without configurable terminal
emulators though (how *do* you do that on a Linux terminal?)

>       I don't think there's any appreciable memory or speed difference
> with ncurses versus slang.

I think slang is heavily optimised for VTxxx/PC type terminals - I've
certainly written programs which are much faster at screen updates using
slang than using ncurses.  But that's under Linux - under something more
esoteric(!) it may be the other way around.

-- 
Rob Partington / Netlink Sysadmin / address@hidden / 25y049d
Visit Mullet Watch International: http://www.mullet.org.uk/
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