Programming++ Reading: Getting Close to the Machine

[VirusClock]

Interesting reading I had last semester for a course:

http://www.netjeff.com/humor/item.cgi?file=GettingCloseToTheMachine

[DrClock]

I read the first paragraph and it actually looks interesting. Kind of like programming on acid. Ill read it all when I get home.

[Loki Clock]

Kind of like my manifesto. But I'm also an orthophile, so while I agree with the problem it finishes on, I don't consider myself part of the problem in the same way. While I've yet to gain much experience in user interfaces, I have much interest in it, and I don't see it quite as a user's stupidity. I see it as natural human movement, Chayon-Ryu. So when I create user interfaces, I want to approach it with love, not hatred.

[VirusClock]

Kind of like my manifesto. But I'm also an orthophile, so while I agree with the problem it finishes on, I don't consider myself part of the problem in the same way. While I've yet to gain much experience in user interfaces, I have much interest in it, and I don't see it quite as a user's stupidity. I see it as natural human movement, Chayon-Ryu. So when I create user interfaces, I want to approach it with love, not hatred.

What you must keep in mind is that when it comes to our natural environments, there are "filters" that keep us from doing stupid choices. Pain receptors tell us that anything that can damage us (fire, stones, knives) is bad for us in the long term. Neurotransmitters indicate when we should and shouldn't eat, to prevent us from starvation or dying from over-eating. And even in our social aspects, we have a style of though process that tell us how to interact with other humans/species.

Since interfaces and programming is an extension to us, they must also have rules to prevent us from mis-using them, after all, stupidity is just the lack of knowledge.

[Loki Clock]

What that results in, though, is a "no" user interface, that dictates the user instead of being dictated, used, by it. Not having rules is not the same as not having structure, reliability, though.