> -----Original Message-----
> From: Simeon Fitch [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Thursday, 23 November 2000 14:11
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: From attributes to elements and other concerns
>
>
>
> --- Peter Donald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > As ant has evolved there has been a
> > tendency
> > to reduce the number of attributes in a task and increase the number of
> > elements. So parameters are gradually going from "include" attributes to
> > "include" elements. I was told that this is increasing difficult for
> > average users. While I tend to agree that it increases
> difficulty I think
> > it is a fair enough tradeoff for added power in general. It
> does increase
> > the learning curve a little but ...
>
> Interesting info. In all seriousness (I'm not being smug), why do
> you think
> "they" think that
>
> More Elements -> Harder
> but
> More Attributes -> Easier
>
> ? Is is a visual layout issue (clumping related information close
> together), or is it the difficulty of understanding hierarchical
> data? As a
> non-non-technical person, I actually find the nested elements
> approach much
> easier to read. But as has been pointed out here, there has been a goal
> stated at some point that Ant should be accessible to non-techies as well
> as techies.
>
>
Well, which do you find easier to remember and use
<copy todir="${dest}">
<fileset dir="${src}"/>
</copy>
or
<copydir src="${src}"
dest="${dest}"/>
:-)
Conor
