Mail Archives: djgpp/1996/12/02/22:22:36
In article <329BA7B5 DOT 2DAD AT cs DOT com>, "John M. Aldrich" <fighteer AT cs DOT com> writes:
> Weiqi Gao wrote:
>>
>> There used to be a formula that states "user friendliness is directly
>> proportional to programmer hostilility." Can we translate that into
>> "user dumbness is directly proportional to programmer cleverness"? Or
>> should it be "user dumbness is directly proportional to programmer
>> dumbness"?
>
> I think it's the first one, because the better a programmer does his or
> her job, the less intelligence it requires for a user to use the
> program. The dumber a programmer is, the more knowledge a user needs to
> figure out what to do.
That would mean that e.g. gcc's developers are too stupid to breathe without
prompting. I don't think so. The real tradeoff is between expressive power
and simplicity. Good tools for really dim users or really smart users *both*
require good programmers. The thing is, you can't make a tool that's good for
both kinds of users without in effect building two tools and fusing them into
the same executable.
> This certainly does explain the Windows phenomenon, btw. :) MS's
> _programmers_ are very good; it's the politics at the higher levels that
> makes everything so complicated.
Aye, politics doth make dullards of us all. But what does that have to do with
dumb/smart programmers and smart/dumb users? Now the question isn't about
intelligent life forms at all.
--
Mark H. Wood, Lead Systems Programmer +1 317 274 0749 [@disclaimer@]
Internet: MWOOD AT INDYVAX DOT IUPUI DOT EDU BITNET: MWOOD AT INDYVAX
I am endeavoring to construct a mnemonic circuit using stone knives and
bearskins. -- Spock
- Raw text -