Andrew M. Kuchling :

Also, here's a list of ncurses functions that aren't yet supported; should I make adding them a priority. (Most of them seem to be pretty marginal, except for the mouse-related functions which I want to add next.)

addchnstr addchstr chgat color_set copywin define_key del_curterm delscreen dupwin getmouse inchnstr inchstr innstr keyok mcprint mouseinterval mousemask mvaddchnstr mvaddchstr mvchgat mvcur mvinchnstr mvinchstr mvinnstr mmvwaddchnstr mvwaddchstr mvwchgat mvwgetnstr mvwinchnstr mvwinchstr mvwinnstr napms newterm overlay overwrite resetty resizeterm restartterm ripoffline savetty scr_dump scr_init scr_restore scr_set scrl set_curterm set_term setterm setupterm slk_attr slk_attr_off slk_attr_on slk_attr_set slk_attroff slk_attron slk_attrset slk_clear slk_color slk_init slk_label slk_noutrefresh slk_refresh slk_restore slk_set slk_touch tgetent tgetflag tgetnum tgetstr tgoto tigetflag tigetnum tigetstr timeout tparm tputs tputs typeahead ungetmouse use_default_colors vidattr vidputs waddchnstr waddchstr wchgat wcolor_set wcursyncup wenclose winchnstr winchstr winnstr wmouse_trafo wredrawln wscrl wtimeout

I think you're right to put the mouse support at highest priority. I'd say napms() and the overlay/overwrite/copywin group are moderately important. So are the functions in the curs_inopts(3x) group -- when you need those, nothing else will do. You can certainly pretty much forget the slk_* group; I only implemented those for the sake of excruciating completeness. Likewise for the mv* variants. Here's a function that ought to be in the Python wrapper associated with the module: def traceback_wrapper(func, *rest): "Call a hook function, guaranteeing curses cleanup on error or exit." try: # Initialize curses stdscr=curses.initscr() # Turn off echoing of keys, and enter cbreak mode, # where no buffering is performed on keyboard input curses.noecho() ; curses.cbreak() # In keypad mode, escape sequences for special keys # (like the cursor keys) will be interpreted and # a special value like curses.KEY_LEFT will be returned stdscr.keypad(1) # Run the hook. Supply the screen window object as first argument apply(func, (stdscr,) + rest) # Set everything back to normal stdscr.keypad(0) curses.echo() ; curses.nocbreak() curses.endwin() # Terminate curses except: # In the event of an error, restore the terminal # to a sane state. stdscr.keypad(0) curses.echo() ; curses.nocbreak() curses.endwin() traceback.print_exc() # Print the exception (Does this case mean, perhaps, that the Python interper ought to allow setting a stack of hooks to be executed just before traceback-emission time?) I'd also be willing to write a Python function that implements Emacs-style keybindings for field editing, if that's interesting. -- <a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr">Eric S. Raymond</a> Don't think of it as `gun control', think of it as `victim disarmament'. If we make enough laws, we can all be criminals.