How to hide/show cursor without Ncurses ?

[lorenzo.zampese@notes.electrolux.it]

How can I hide/show the cursor on a generic text terminal (xterms
included),
without using the famous 'ncurses' libraries ?
And about colors and text scrolling ?

I found an interesting document on internet (unix programmer FAQ v1.31)
concerning
how to program terminals, tasks, mailing, etc., but it doesn't explain the
above questions.

It is very strange that there are so many documents about the linux's
configuration,
but a so very little number about the programming, or not ?


Thank you.