From: Niklas Holsti <niklas.holsti@tidorum.invalid>
Subject: Re: "Usability" (was Re: Map iteration and modification)
Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2024 10:14:07 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <kvsgefF5tp4U1@mid.individual.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <unatt5$h6sp$1@dont-email.me>
On 2024-01-06 9:03, Randy Brukardt wrote:
> "Lawrence D'Oliveiro" <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote in message
> news:unafcg$bpv5$7@dont-email.me...
>> On Thu, 4 Jan 2024 20:00:37 -0600, Randy Brukardt wrote:
>>
>>> "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> wrote in message
>>> news:un64o3$3krch$1@dont-email.me...
>>>>>
>>>>>> Usability always trumps performance.
>>>>>
>>>>> That's the philosophy of languages like Python, not Ada.
>>>>
>>>> Ah, this is why Python is totally unusable? (:-))
>>>
>>> I would tend to argue that it is indeed the case that you get dubious
>>> results when you put usability first. ...
>>> http://www.rrsoftware.com/html/blog/consequences.html
>>
>> Without reading that, I would never have understood "usability" to mean
>> "ease of writing". I learned from early on in my programming career that
>> readability was more important than writability. So "using" a language
>> doesn't end with writing the code: you then have to test and debug it--
>> basically lick it into shape--then maintain it afterwards.
>
> Usability is of course not just ease-of-writing, but a lot of people tend to
> co-mingle the two. For readability, too little information can be just as
> bad as too much. For writability, the less you have to write, the better.
I feel that is too narrow a definition of writability (and perhaps you
did not intend it as a definition). Before one can start typing code,
one has to decide what to write -- which language constructs to use. A
systematically constructed, regular language like Ada makes that mental
effort easier, even if it results in more keystrokes; a plethora of
special-case syntaxes and abbreviation possibilities makes it harder.
Perhaps "writability" should even be taken to cover the whole process of
creating /correct/ code, and include all the necessary testing,
debugging and corrections until correct code is achieved. Here of course
Ada shines again, with so many coding errors caught at compile time.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2024-01-06 8:14 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 40+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2023-12-28 13:53 Map iteration and modification DrPi
2023-12-28 13:59 ` DrPi
2023-12-28 16:06 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
2023-12-28 17:57 ` DrPi
2023-12-29 3:20 ` Randy Brukardt
2023-12-29 9:51 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
2023-12-29 15:03 ` G.B.
2023-12-29 16:52 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
2024-01-01 19:27 ` G.B.
2024-01-01 20:55 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
2024-01-02 16:40 ` G.B.
2024-01-02 20:57 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
2024-01-03 3:22 ` Randy Brukardt
2024-01-03 4:05 ` moi
2023-12-30 7:21 ` Randy Brukardt
2023-12-30 11:07 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
2024-01-03 3:15 ` Randy Brukardt
2024-01-03 10:04 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
2024-01-04 4:07 ` Randy Brukardt
2024-01-04 11:28 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
2024-01-05 2:00 ` Randy Brukardt
2024-01-05 9:26 ` Simon Wright
2024-01-05 11:51 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
2024-01-06 7:25 ` Randy Brukardt
2024-01-07 15:06 ` Jeffrey R.Carter
2024-01-09 4:46 ` Randy Brukardt
2024-01-09 5:56 ` when-clauses (was Re: Map iteration and modification) Lawrence D'Oliveiro
2024-01-09 9:43 ` Map iteration and modification Jeffrey R.Carter
2024-04-17 10:12 ` Cóilín Nioclás Pól Glostéir
2024-01-06 2:54 ` “Usability” (was Re: Map iteration and modification) Lawrence D'Oliveiro
2024-01-06 7:03 ` "Usability" " Randy Brukardt
2024-01-06 8:14 ` Niklas Holsti [this message]
2024-01-06 23:41 ` Lawrence D'Oliveiro
2024-01-07 1:21 ` J-P. Rosen
2024-01-09 15:19 ` Bill Findlay
2024-01-09 20:30 ` Lawrence D'Oliveiro
2023-12-29 3:08 ` Map iteration and modification Randy Brukardt
2023-12-29 13:53 ` DrPi
2023-12-30 6:29 ` Randy Brukardt
2023-12-31 13:56 ` DrPi
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