From: Tim Hammerquist <tim@...>
Date: 2002-02-22T10:19:16+09:00
Subject: Re: Now I'm really confused!

Chris Gehlker <gehlker@fastq.com> graced us by uttering:
> I'm still struggling with producing RubyStudio. The following example
> illustrates my dilemma:
> 
> This works from the shell:
> $stdout.print "Enter a string:"
> a = $stdin.gets
> 
> But hangs the thread in RubyStudio that's waiting to see some output from
> Ruby. This however works in both environments:
> 
> $stdout.print "Enter a string:"
> $stdout.flush
> a = $stdin.gets
> 
> What I can't figure out is why Ruby behaves differently depending on how it
> was launched. Does tcsh set some environmental variable that tells Ruby not
> to buffer output? I printed out man tcsh but it's a small book without an
> index. Please help.

I'm not familiar with RubyStudio, but it occurs to me that it may
have to do with the fact that the shell is connected to a tty whereas
RubyStudio may be using a pipe or socket. tty's behave differently and
may be flushing automatically.  I doubt it's related to the shell.

HTH
Tim Hammerquist
-- 
"Supported" is an MS term that means the function exists. The fact
that it always fails means that it is an exercise for the programmer.
    -- Sarathy, p5p