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Subject: Re: _kbhit
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 18:58:21 -0500
Message-ID: <6CA15ADD82E5724F88CB53D50E61C9AE9ECE5E@cgcmail.cgc.cpmc.columbia.edu>
From: "Michiel De Hoon" <mdehoon AT c2b2 DOT columbia DOT edu>
To: <cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
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> On Sun, Feb 05, 2006 at 01:17:33PM -0500, Michiel De Hoon wrote:
> >For one of my software projects, I need the _kbhit function to check the
> >console for keyboard input. While this function is present in msvcrt.dll,
it
> >is missing from cygwin1.dll, so I started writing this function myself
(I'm
> >hoping to contribute it to Cygwin if it works well).
>
> I really appreciate the sentiment of submitting code but _kbhit is not a
> linux function (or <echo on>POSIX, POSIX, POSIX...</echo off>) so it
> really isn't a candidate for inclusion in the Cygwin DLL.
> 
> cgf
>
Even though _kbhit is not a POSIX function, I think a valid argument can be
made to include it in Cygwin anyway.

First, some Cygwin programs will need this function to be able to interact
with the Windows OS. Second, as the Cygwin DLL is a replacement for msvcrt
(and msvcrt.dll and cygwin1.dll cannot be used together), developers may
expect to find the same functionality in cygwin1.dll as in msvcrt.dll.
Whereas it is possible for each developer to add needed functions missing in
cygwin1.dll to their own source code, it will lead to ugly #ifdef __CYGWIN__
statements and complicate porting Windows programs to Cygwin (which is what I
am effectively doing). Finally, coding the _kbhit function is not entirely
straightforward: simply doing a select() on file descriptor 0 is inconsistent
with _kbhit in msvcrt if stdin is redirected.

So, .... if I was able to convince you, I'd be happy to submit a patch. If
not, ... well for my own project a kbhit() function based on select() is
sufficient, so that'll work for me at least.

--Michiel.

Michiel de Hoon
Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Columbia University
1150 St Nicholas Avenue
New York, NY 10032


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