From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.2 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 109fba,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: fac41,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gidfac41,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 114809,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid114809,public X-Google-Thread: 11cae8,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid11cae8,public From: Tansel Ersavas Subject: Re: What is wrong with OO ? Date: 1996/12/20 Message-ID: <32BB2C13.A38@rase.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 205162997 references: <32A4659D.347A@shef.ac.uk> <32A71BC6.2D857063@arscorp.com> content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii organization: RASE Inc. mime-version: 1.0 reply-to: tansel@rase.com newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.eiffel,comp.lang.ada,comp.lnag.java,comp.object,comp.software-eng x-mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win95; U) Date: 1996-12-20T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Jon S Anthony wrote: > > > Still I believe that the next generation will work predominantly with > > pictures and will rarely revert to bulky chunks of text > > Hmmmm, do you really think any attempt you try to provide for my first > question will be any where near as light weight as "mountain"??????? > Take a look at the "byte-size" of even the simplest graphic in any > representation you care to and compare it to a "corresponding textual > description". I remember similar discussions that took place when GUIs were first introduced. However, it didn't change the fact that GUI dominated. When CERN fist introduced the text based ancestor of Mosaic, it didn't really motivate any users to participate until the hyper-media concept was introduced. Rest is history. It is not the hyper-link concept that started the web-mania. This was around before. It is the ability to combine text, sound and images together to offer a whole. Same things will happen, in fact already happening in the systems development area. The first examples mostly suck, but they will be better, and will eventually dominate. One should also remember that text is a visual represenatation as well. We have nice little icons that represent letters. So it is just one way of pictorial representation. It is a fascinating evolution how we ended up with text, and I enjoy reading about how iconic languages became textual ones. This subject is very deep, and would start several threads, so I'll keep quiet about it now. I don't think that we can justify the graphical craze in measurable terms such as of ease of use, or or ease of learning. Indeed, when the icon based file interface first introduced in Lisa, there were a series of tests with users about the ease of learning of this new approach. To many people's surprise they didn't turn out to be faster to learn than the other concepts when they were first introduced. Even error rates came about the same. What was different, though, people's enjoyment of the "little pictures" as they defined it. This enjoyment in turn promoted wider use, and indirectly more efficient learning. Pictures are sexier. They can immediately grab our attention. BTW I also sometimes watch with worry as GUIS dominate, because they disadvantage one group of people, namely blind people. To the blind, text is as meaningless as pictures unless it is converted to sound or braille. However text can be converted to either of these mediums easily, while GUIs can not be. The ideal solution is to keep the development model independent of its views, and show it to people who want to view it in text as text, pictures as pictures, or sound, and any other views imaginable, and that lies in the core of some new systems we are developing. Tansel ----------------------------------------------------------------------- RASE Inc. Clark NJ USA Voice: (908) 396 7145 mailto:tansel@rase.com Fax: (908) 382 1383 http://www.rase.com/ ----Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic--- -------------------------------A.C. Clarke-----------------------------