Sd and Sdtty use a completing reader for interpreting the
characters that you type.
In Sdtty, this is the only means of entering calls and commands.
In Sd you can use the mouse and menus, but you can also type.
When you type characters into Sd, it uses the same completing reader
as Sdtty. In fact, the two programs are completely compatible with
each other if only keyboard input is used.
The completing reader requires you to type only as much of the word or command as is required to be unambiguous. Whenever you type a space, the program completes the word you just typed, if necessary and possible. Whenever you type ENTER (or RETURN on some keyboards), the program completes the entire line if necessary and possible.
For example, at Mainstream, you can enter a swing thru by typing
`swing thru ENTER'.
When the space after `swing' is typed,
no completion is required. When the
ENTER
after `thru' is typed, no completion is required either. If you type
`sw thru ENTER'
instead, Sd completes the word `swing'.
It does this by displaying
`ing' on the screen as soon as you type the space after
`sw'. If you type
`sw th ENTER',
Sd will complete both words. It displays `ing' as soon as you type the
space, and it displays `ru' as soon as you type
ENTER.
In fact, you could just type
`sw ENTER'.
Sd completes the entire line, if necessary
and possible, when ENTER is pressed.
So it will display `ing thru' after
your `sw'. In each case, the full phrase `swing thru' will appear
on the screen, and will be printed in the final sequence.
Because of this completion, you can get into the habit of just typing
`sw ENTER'
at Mainstream. However, it will only work if what you type is unambiguous.
At higher levels, `sw' could also mean `swap around'. When there is an
ambiguity, Sd will complete as much as it can and beep at you.
You can
type `?' or `!' (discussed below) to see what the problem is.
With practice, you can get a reasonable feel for how much abbreviation you can get away with in a given context.
Typing ESC will complete the entire line, just like ENTER, but will not actually process the line. If you like what you see, you can then press ENTER to execute the call. If the line is ambiguous, the program will display as much of the line as it can. When used effectively, this can save you a lot of typing.
Sd's completing reader is completely indifferent to the capitalization of
what you type. It capitalizes its output according to its own notions of
aesthetics and ambiguity avoidance.
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