[CS-FSLUG] Random comment on comment

[Ed Hurst]

Aaron Patrick Lehmann wrote:
> When you guys talk about interface, are you speaking of the UI?  I think of the
> code interface when I say it...  Ad FYI Ed, in coding terms, clean means that
> you allow those who will use your interface the functionality they need, and no
> more.  

There we have a coder's viewpoint, and I can see that. But when someone 
writes a review and splatter around meaningless terms, I get cranky. 
Most of what I've ranted about so far applies to the reviewers, not the 
coders.

> And with regard to "freedom," do you mean, the ability to do what you want in
> the way you want it?  If so, then freedom is anathema to me as a programmer.
> If an interface allows 10 differrent programmers the ability to do the same
> thing in 10 widely different ways, then maintaining and extending is going to
> be difficult, because what is the obvious way to one person will not be so to
> the next.  Give me an interface that allows me to get what I need done, in one
> obvious way.  If there are several equally valid ways to do something that come
> to mind, I get antsy.

I know so little about coding that I am hesitant to address this. My 
rant was aimed more at those who write about software, not the software. 
The only thing I would suggest here is that coders and plain users often 
won't agree. I recall reading somewhere that keeping the backend and 
frontend somewhat as separate projects relieves the stress you mention.

The most obvious example would be a word processor. There are some good 
and bad in each. I like having a lot of functions built in, but it's 
certainly possible to have too many. Indulge me for a moment while a 
compare a few from the writer/user point of view:

Atlantis (Winware) is a free RTF wordprocessor, and every stinkin' 
feature it seems is on one of the menu bars. They have so many, that you 
get to switch between two sets with a single click. The saving grace is 
that you can turn off all the bars you know you won't use, and you can 
do some editing on what shows in the bars.

Word is overkill in an ugly suit, but I figured out in Word 97 how to 
get rid of the junk I'd never use, and display the stuff I wanted. The 
neatest trick was the ease with which I could change the keystrokes to 
suit me. Some things just don't need a button. Still, the issue was that 
upon searching, configurability was there. Every menu function could be 
made a keystroke, a button, or simply left in the menu. Functions I 
didn't need could be ignored, once I knew my way around.

WordPerfect was even better about that. Those buttons were an obvious 
drag-n-drop to whichever toolbar you liked. The instructions for 
modifications were far clearer, far easier to find than for Word.

OO.o echoes some of this, though it's not quite as easy to do. Applix 
was probably the most configurable I ever saw, but it quickly became 
unusable when Gtk and Xlibs progressed and became incompatible (if I 
understand correctly). Also, its configuration used odd terminology.

In each case, the selling point was that I was free to choose between 
any combination of keysrokes, buttons, and menu entries, not to mention 
all but Atlantis has a macro language, of varying degrees of difficulty. 
I'm assuming each was developed in a modular way; the folks who coded 
the backend simply left the "hooks" for functions and the GUI folks 
extended them. Users really do demand a choice, because no two of us 
work exactly alike. I don't care what's obvious to you, and you don't 
care what's obvious to me. I'm sure there are whole careers built around 
this nexus of conflict.

Of course, nowadays I don't use word processors much, because most of my 
product is plain text or HTML. About the only thing I need for HTML is 
syntax highlighting. Most of what I print out on paper is plain text, 
using a dot-matrix, and I don't need WYSIWYG editing anymore. If 
anything, I want a better plain text "word processor". Currently, I 
don't know of any that I could run on my FreeBSD box.

-- 
Ed Hurst
-----------
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