Wolfgang
This paragraph is OT : Your post was highly fascinating to me because I am the most left-brained person I know (highly verbal, cr*ppy arithemetic skills). I have always thought of gifted programmers as being right-brained (mathematical, visual-spatial skills). In fact, I've met only one other programmer who looks at programming as I do: as an exercise in comparative linguistics (verbal skill) rather than a mathematical/logical skill. If I read your posting correctly, I get the impression you are suggesting that programmers tend to be left-brained. Or am I misreading??
But I digress.
In any event, I think you hit the nail right on the head when you said:
They need, first of all an OVERVIEW of all this incomprehensible written details. They are looking for fast capture of the content - with one view. The most important thing for a right brainer is to know the content BEFORE he starts learning. Therefore they need an Index, to get this overview. If they dont get it and must learn from the documentation, they will be frustrated immediately. But we all have learned very early in our childhood: Avoid frustrations! If they cant avoid it or escape of all that frustrations, they will learn to hate rev. (As I have learned, hence I know what I m talking about), Because I m NOT a natural leftbrained programmer.
So, whether the user is right- or left-brained isn't really the issue. What is at issue is how to get through to the people who do not think as one does. And how to avoid turning off prospective users because they get frustrated before they can get hooked.
Avoid frustrations! If they cant avoid it or escape of all that frustrations, they will learn to hate rev.
And that's exactly the point.
Because of another project i have not much time at the moment, but if a lot of people are realy interested how my idea of a brainfriendly documentation could look like, I can do a small simple example.
I, for one, would be interested.
M
On Jul 7, 2004, at 9:37 AM, Wolfgang M.Bereuter wrote:
_______________________________________________
On 07.07.2004, at 01:48, Marian Petrides wrote:
Marian, judy, list
Marian, i agree with a lot you have said before. But..
IMHO the big point why these discussion, arises again and again since years on the list, like the good old Nessie. (maybe I should better give up talking about this left/right brain - concerns here in the scripters world, but anyway, i give it another try;)
And, one more suggestion: to accommodate the real newbie programmers,
Forget the "newbie" "programmers". Get the newbies to programming.
Sounds equal, but isnt, why?
If you are a "newbie (rev) programmer" then you are a programmer, which is mostly coming from another "programming" tool. That means a left brain-talented person, which is interested in programming and has learned to think like programmers: digital step by step, word by word, tone by tone details etc...) . For him its very easy to understand the structure of a script, because it s language-like: word by word / variable by variable word by variable, etc... He loves to think in that way. Hence he will likely go page by page through a left brain tutorial, Documentation etc, because he understands whats written in these documentation.
The other one: newbie to prorgramming. Can be a left talented person but mostly will not be, because he is not interested in programming. until this first contact with a programming tool. Therefore most of them are rightbrain talented person. They like association, Colors, emotions, creativity. But they hate step by step-things. The do not think like a programmer, they have a lot of problems understand whats written in the docs. They need a kind of visual instruction.
Judy!
They need, first of all an OVERVIEW of all this incomprehensible written details. They are looking for fast capture of the content - with one view. The most important thing for a right brainer is to know the content BEFORE he starts learning. Therefore they need an Index, to get this overview. If they dont get it and must learn from the documentation, they will be frustrated immediately. But we all have learned very early in our childhood: Avoid frustrations! If they cant avoid it or escape of all that frustrations, they will learn to hate rev. (As I have learned, hence I know what I m talking about), Because I m NOT a natural leftbrained programmer.
If you are interested in getting the big potential of creativity of the right brainers, they are about 50% of the mankind, but I belive less than 5% of the programmers, then you have to give them a brainfriendly(!) documentation. to have them as satisfied members on board. BTW most of them are not(!) already captured, like 90% of the leftbrainer, by Visual-(anything) and anyhting.NET.
Apple got this brainfreindly thing with first Mac OS 6.x, and than with HC. An some HC Dokumentation have been instinctivly written brainfriendly too. That was the great succes of HC in the market of (more rightbrain) Mac Users but newbies to programming. An great brainfriendly authoring tool, not from Apple, was mtropolis.
If you have a lot of doubts about this brain matters, which are not from me, thats common knowledge in the brain science, maybee you believe more in the University of Cambridge:
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht
oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and
lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.
The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is
bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a
wlohe.
Amzanig huh?
this works in nearly all languages (aslo acuh in desucth) and gives you an idea how our brain is woking and why a fast overview, indices and keywords are so important for the understanding, and understanding for applying.
Because of another project i have not much time at the moment, but if a lot of people are realy interested how my idea of a brainfriendly documentation could look like, I can do a small simple example.
my 2 cents
regards Wolfgang M. Bereuter
Trainingsmaps� -- that�s Speedlearning with Mindmaps�! INTERNETTRAINER Wolfgang M. Bereuter Edelhofg. 17/11, A-1180 Wien, Austria ............................... http://www.internettrainer.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] ............................... Tel: ++43/1/ 961 0418 Fax: ++43/1/ 479 2539
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