- <ul>
- <li>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the
- X/OPEN curses specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements
- all BASE level features, and most EXTENDED features). It
- includes many function calls not supported under SVr4 curses
- (but portability of all calls is documented so you can use the
- SVr4 subset only).</li>
-
- <li>Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the
- rightmost-bottommost corner of the screen if your terminal has
- an insert-character capability.</li>
-
- <li>Ada95 and C++ bindings.</li>
-
- <li>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and
- FreeBSD and OS/2 console windows.</li>
-
- <li>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm
- package.</li>
-
- <li>The function <code>wresize</code> allows you to resize
- windows, preserving their data.</li>
-
- <li>The function <code>use_default_colors</code> allows you to
- use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
- achieving the effect of transparent colors.</li>
-
- <li>The functions <code>keyok</code> and
- <code>define_key</code> allow you to better control the use of
- function keys, e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE, or by
- defining more than one control sequence to map to a given key
- code.</li>
-
- <li>Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm, when
- configured using the <code>--enable-ext-colors</code>
- option.</li>
-
- <li>Support for 16-color terminals, such as <em>aixterm</em>
- and <em>modern xterm</em>.</li>
-
- <li>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now
- features a cursor-local-movement computation more efficient
- than either BSD's or System V's.</li>
-
- <li>Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code
- incorporates a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables
- it to make optimal use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion,
- and line-deletion for screen-line movements. This algorithm is
- more powerful than the 4.4BSD curses <code>quickch</code>
- routine.</li>
-
- <li>Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch.
- The screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if
- the magic- cookie unattributed spaces required just before the
- beginning and after the end would step on a non-space
- character. It will automatically shift highlight boundaries
- when doing so would make it possible to draw the highlight
- without changing the visual appearance of the screen.</li>
-
- <li>It is possible to generate the library with a list of
- pre-loaded fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve
- those terminal types even when no terminfo tree or termcap file
- is accessible (this may be useful for support of
- screen-oriented programs that must run in single-user
- mode).</li>
-
- <li>The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the
- ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
- AT&T extension sets.</li>
-
- <li>A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.</li>
-
- <li>The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read
- terminfo entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile
- to that directory if it exists and the user has no write access
- to the system directory. This feature makes it easier for users
- to have personal terminfo entries without giving up access to
- the system terminfo directory.</li>
-
- <li>You may specify a path of directories to search for
- compiled descriptions with the environment variable
- TERMINFO_DIRS (this generalizes the feature provided by
- TERMINFO under stock System V.)</li>
-
- <li>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not
- just to other entries in the same source file (as in System V)
- but also to compiled entries in either the system terminfo
- directory or the user's $HOME/.terminfo directory.</li>
-
- <li>A script (<strong>capconvert</strong>) is provided to help
- BSD users transition from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the
- information in a TERMCAP environment variable and/or a
- ~/.termcap local entries file and converts it to an equivalent
- local terminfo tree under $HOME/.terminfo.</li>
-
- <li>Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled
- in when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This
- feature is neither fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it
- unless you have to, but it's there.</li>
-
- <li>The table-of-entries utility <strong>toe</strong> makes it
- easy for users to see exactly what terminal types are available
- on the system.</li>
-
- <li>The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro
- entry point have a corresponding function which may be linked
- (and will be prototype-checked) if the macro definition is
- disabled with <code>#undef</code>.</li>
-
- <li>An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document
- provides a narrative introduction to the curses programming
- interface.</li>
- </ul>