Hi, if this mail doesn't convince you could you please reply privately, so we don't disturb the others? I just want to clarify the meaning of a mode with this mail.
On Nov 23, 2007 7:50 PM, Wm Annis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Nov 23, 2007 9:46 AM, Waldemar Kornewald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > It's our familiarity with math, not a programming language. > > > > Am I the only one who has to work a lot with math? Maybe that explains > > why you don't want to understand my problem. > > Honestly. You don't know me well enough to tell me what I do or > do not want. I'm asking my questions in good faith. Then, I'm sorry for my tone. > > Does it suffice if I refer to common knowledge in interaction design > > that modality results in errors? > > > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_(computer_interface) > > This seems rather to support my suspicion that adding special > precedence rules to a language leads to trouble. What are > arithmetic precedence rules but a separate syntactic mode, the > imposition of a domain specific language onto a general one? Let's take the explanation from wikipedia: "... a mode is a distinct setting within a computer program ..., in which the same user input will produce perceived different results than it would in other settings" Clearly, you need two different settings with two different interpretations of the same action. In our case, the first setting is math. The second setting is the programming language. If you introduce a different interpretation in a programming language then you introduce a mode because math is more common than that language. We could interpret math as a mode on its own (like you seem to do), relative to normal reading conventions (left-to-right). OTOH, if I show you a math formula on paper your expectation probably is that it conforms to math precedence because that's what you've learned early on at school. You don't have to actively remind yourself of the fact that you're in math mode. It has become the only possible interpretation for most people. There is no mode, anymore (as according to Raskin's definition the state you're in is pretty clear). Do you at least agree that Smalltalk has more potential for precedence errors than, say, Python? I can't say if training can fully eliminate the mode problem in this case, but it definitely steepens the learning curve for those who regularly use math and those who don't regularly use both modes will not effectively train the mode switching, thus again increasing the potential for errors. Bye, Waldemar Kornewald _______________________________________________ fonc mailing list [email protected] http://vpri.org/mailman/listinfo/fonc
