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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Adam Jensen Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Introductory Presentations, especially aimed at C++ programmers! Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2016 13:54:16 -0500 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Message-ID: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2016 18:52:56 -0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: mx02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="b4c49988a6df4ab7769d35fc2b17666f"; logging-data="408"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18gfGlBcyQpxV56rV0Gn6UU" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/45.4.0 In-Reply-To: Cancel-Lock: sha1:GClPahNv6CAoviEEWtOPuCTkZ6M= Xref: news.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:32683 Date: 2016-12-08T13:54:16-05:00 List-Id: On 12/07/2016 12:06 PM, john@mccabe.org.uk wrote: [snip] > I thought it might be nice to pick one or two particular aspects of Ada that are so much nicer than C++ and present them. I would be most impressed by a computer programming technology if there were epistemological and pedagogical sophistication in the human interface materials. A simple way to start making improvements might be by addressing the battology problem. http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/Campaign-To-Cut-The-Clutter-Zinssers-Brackets.htm It may also be useful if a community performed natural language analysis on its human interface materials. There could probably be patterns to be found that would suggest something about the culture. Conversely, style guides, linguistic templates, controlled vocabularies, etc. could be used in the human interface materials to promote a culture. Lastly, the methods by which the educational and reference materials are generated could be systematized. Rather than striving for a cult-like social organization that surrounds a charismatic personality or a fetishized technology, an engineered scientific organization (rational-legal) would be a much more appropriate and interesting goal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripartite_classification_of_authority But, of course, putting on war paint and gibbering brainwashy hype over an over while shaking your junk at a rival gang does seem to sell tickets (I guess).