Ask for an answer...

[Jacques Hausser]

Dunbar and Roger,

Thank for your replies,

Le 4 août 2013 à 03:32, dunbarx at aol.com a écrit :

> Jacques.
> 
> 
> "Reply" and "Request" are both reserved words, but I get your point.

Oups, sorry, I know that, but I forgot … I should never post late in the evening.

> But what really are your concerns? It is true that the two commands, which were born in 1987, are similar, in that they are  both blocking, requiring user input to dismiss. One requires a choice among explicit answers, the other requires the user to type an answer, giving a much broader range for that answer.
> 
> 
> They might be combined into a single compound command, I suppose. But apart from that, I do not see the ambiguity you mention. As for how they are described and from what point of view, I do not understand what you mean.

Both are questions to the user, and "answer" is not a question, but… an answer. They are antonyms and should not be used as (quasi) synonyms. 
A single compound command would be better indeed, and the propositon of Roger:

> Prompt [for] choice with "this" or "that" or "the other"
> 
> Prompt [for] input with "Please type your birth date."


seems excellent and is semantically crystal clear ! I would however keep "ask" for everything and drop "answer" completely

Ask [for] choice with "this" or "that" or "the other"
Ask  [for] input with "Please type your birth date."
Ask [for] file input "Save data as" with default file path
Ask [for] file choice "select a file" 
etc…

Jacques


> 
> 
> Craig Newman
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jacques Hausser <jacques.hausser at unil.ch>
> To: How to use LiveCode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com>
> Sent: Sat, Aug 3, 2013 5:59 pm
> Subject: Ask for an answer...
> 
> 
> It's perhaps not a brand new topic, but I floundered again, being confused with 
> "ask" and "answer" commands, so I let off some stream.
> I was always bothered - and I'm not the only one - by the semantic of these 
> commands. In both cases, the script asks a question, and the user has to answer. 
> But the "answer" command is viewed as an order to the user, when the ask command 
> is viewed as a demand from the application. Two points of view for two commands 
> which in fact have very similar meanings. It seems logical that these commands 
> should be either described from the application's side or from the user's side, 
> and not the actual mixture of both.
> It would be (semantically) straightforward to change the meanings of the extand 
> commands, but a nightmare to re-actualize old code. So, synonymizing (english?) 
> only one of them, solutions could be:
> 
> 1) if you prefer the point of view of the application:
> 
> "answer" could be replaced by "request"-- for a demand needing a yes-or-no 
> answer
> "ask" -- no change; for a demand requesting a more detailed answer, e.g. your 
> birthday…
> 
> 2) if you prefer the point of view of the user
> 
> "answer" -- no change; for a yes-or-no answer
> "ask" could be replaced by "reply" -- with something more detailed.
> 
> I'm sure that most of you, native English speakers, could find better 
> solutions…I'm looking forward for them !
> 
> Jacques
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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******************************************
Prof. Jacques Hausser
Department of Ecology and Evolution
Biophore / Sorge
University of Lausanne
CH 1015 Lausanne
please use my private address:
6 route de Burtigny
CH-1269 Bassins
tel: 	++ 41 22 366 19 40
mobile:	++ 41 79 757 05 24
E-Mail:	jacques.hausser at unil.ch
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