On 23/10/2008, at 1:06 AM, Lukas Renggli wrote:
I disagree. I exclusively use OB in productive development on a daily
bases for over 2 years now.
Decent selection support? Multiple selection? Dynamic filtering? Rich
labels? Trees? Multiple 'definition' edges?
OB is usable today, and I use it exclusively as well, but my point is
that is should be a lot better. Why settle for 'great concept, ok
realization'? I want something 'exceptional'.
I think OB is a great start, and an excellent piece of work, but it
doesn't stop it being a prototype that has been tested in the field
and found to require structural modifications and some rethinking, as
opposed to the hacks that have polluted what is a beautiful model.
b) shouldn't include any action abstraction because that's best
handled in a completely different and system-wide fashion;
I disagree. OB provides this system-wide abstraction. It is the fault
of the other tools that don't use these abstractions. For example,
I've written a process browser, debugger, inspector and several other
tools in OB and they all benefit from the commands that already exist
and that other people write as extensions (e.g. open a hierarchy
browser from within the debugger).
I agree that the abstraction is not optimal in all cases (e.g. text
commands, applicability tests, ...), but it is definitely better than
anything else I've seen so far.
I have (IMO) a better system, called Commando, implemented in VW and
now in Squeak. It has the following advantages:
1. Not tied to OB.
2. Commands are trivially enumerable, so a selection and discovery
interface is natural.
3. Commands are applicable not only to UI elements, but also across-
domains where the UI exposes a semantic marker/object. Thus the
concept of an action is separated from the presentation of objects
representing command parameters.
5. Commands can be easily structured into menus in both a context-
sensitive, per-window and global manner, including platform-standard-
specific positioning, as well as allowing manual semantically/HUI-
factors directed grouping/ordering/accelerators, orthogonal to their
definition.
A video of it in action in VW is here:
http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/userblogs/antony/blogView?showComments=true&printTitle=A_VW_command_model_and_UI_inspired_by_TextMate&entry=3395013105
This is what happens, when an appealing and widely adapted projects
entirely lacks a form of leadership.
IMO success is dependent on having either one, or a very few people
who share a vision and taste, explicitly in control/gatekeeping,
applying *their* taste and judgement (technical and aesthetic), and
guiding a project in accordance with their specific vision. That's
what I branched off on my own rather than joining a group, and
naturally why no-one else has joined me :) I maybe completely out to
lunch, but it's *my* lunch.
Antony Blakey
-------------
CTO, Linkuistics Pty Ltd
Ph: 0438 840 787
Some defeats are instalments to victory.
-- Jacob Riis
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