[OT] Sparta (was Re: Metacard support)

[Richard Gaskin]

Wilhelm Sanke wrote:

> I have done some more benchmarking, which I will report about,
> concerning the relative speeds of the MC and Rev IDEs both for using the
> IDEs during the development and for building standalones. I think I have
> found sort of a "critical mass" of controls where the Rev IDE absolutely
> bogs down (and the MC IDE does not). A sober analysis of the causes for
> these differences - about which I have some private and possibly
> educated guesses -  could maybe be instrumental and helpful for the
> improvement of both IDEs.

Another great thing about plug-ins:  Geoff Canyon's Navigator can be used in
any IDE, as can my Stack Browser and Property Sheet, so there are lean
options available for those tasks.

Taking it a step further, one could write a plug-in that pulls out Rev's
front- and backscripts and inserts leaner versions that do only the bare
essentials.  You'd lose the Geometry Manager, Profile Manager, etc., but
folks so inclined probably aren't using those anyway.  I had to write one
that removes even MC's lean frontscript in order to get certain messages
with the pointer tool active (mouseDoubleUp and a couple others are not
passed).

Which brings us back to "spartan" -- the definition you found reflects my
own personal feelings:

> I have looked up "spartan" in the Britannica World Language Dictionary
> (part of the Encyclopedia Britannica). Here is the entry:
> 
>> "Spartan":
>> Pertaining to Sparta or the Spartians; heroically brave and enduring.
>> A native or citizen of Sparta; hence, one of exceptional valor and
>> fortitude.

While noted for their valor, Sparta is also a good argument against the
macroeconomics of militaristic societies.

Sparta was an expansive military culture, and I'm told that in outlying
areas it required roughly one soldier/policeman for every twelve citizens to
maintain stability.  Under the burden of such overhead, Spartan society
never enjoyed the luxuries Athenians once took for granted.

Most of the contributions to modern culture attributed to the ancient Greeks
(theatre, literature, philosophy) were specifically from Athens; Sparta gave
us only a cautionary tale of a society burdened by a large
military-industrial complex (or as Bucky Fuller might describe it, the
classic difference between investing in what he called "livingry" as opposed
to weaponry).  The Peloponnesian Wars were expensive to both societies and
ultimately benefitted neither:  Athens had the Acropolis and the Lyceum;
Sparta had an armory. :)

Hence this definition from Dictionary.com, which is probably what my client
was referring to:
 
  # Simple, frugal, or austere: a Spartan diet; a spartan lifestyle.
  # Marked by brevity of speech; laconic.
  # Courageous in the face of pain, danger, or adversity.

For my client, using MC meant using the Message Box a lot (which it used to
for me also until I made my Property Sheet tool).  All that typing amounted
to "pain, danger, and adversity" for him.

So as the Athenian Artistotle would remind us, ultimately every metaphor
fails to fully describe that which it is supposed to illuminate.
Encountering a bug or limitation in any IDE requires the courage to face
pain, danger, and adversity. :)

-- 
 Richard Gaskin 
 Fourth World Media Corporation
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