On Sun, Mar 11, 2012 at 8:37 AM, Tedd Sperling <tedd.sperl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mar 10, 2012, at 11:09 AM, Ghodmode wrote:
>> In this field, we live on a never-ending stream of meaningless phrases. Here
>> are a few more examples:
>> Dynamic HTML
>> Object Oriented Programming
>> Web 2.0
>> AJAX
>> Semantic Web
>> Rude Web (http://fm.no-ip.com/Auth/rudeweb.html)
>> Social Network
>> Progressive Enhancement
>> Graceful Degredation
>> Progressive Degradation
>> Responsive Design
>> Adaptive Design
>>
>
> Really?
>
> Object Oriented Programming, AJAX, and Progressive Enhancement are not
> meaningless phrases.
I guess it's a matter of perspective, but before understanding the
concepts behind them...
- Object Oriented Programming: I felt that this was an especially good
example. Not only the name, but every underlying concept is a metaphor that
requires explanation. Classes aren't the things you ditch so that you ditch
when you smoke a joint behind the bleachers. Objects aren't things you can
hold in your hand. Inheritance isn't something you're hoping for when your
Great Uncle Bartholemew passes away. And so on...
Even experienced C programmers that I asked when I was first exposed to Java
said they didn't understand OO before doing a lot of reading.
- AJAX: The expansion of the acronym wasn't ever in a headline, only in the
explanation. So, the first thing that came to my mind was
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_%28cleaning_product%29
Even after understanding the concept, an XMLHttpRequest isn't necessarily
asynchronous and the data returned isn't necessarily XML, so the name is
dubious to me.
- Progressive Enhancement: Sure it makes sense after you read about it, but to
me the explanation was necessary for the term to have meaning.
> As for the rest, I dunno, but these stood out as meaningful.
Anyway, the specific meaning of the individual terms wasn't the point. In fact,
I just made up at least one of them. The point was that we create catchy names
for our ideas, techniques, and technologies and that they don't necessarily have
to be accurate.
--
Vince Aggrippino
Ghodmode Development
http://www.ghodmode.com
> Cheers,
>
> tedd
>
> _____________________
> tedd.sperl...@gmail.com
> http://sperling.com
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