"Easy to use"

[Scott Kane]

> One of the things that sold me on entering the computer world was the 
> ability to create things.  I had absolutely no computer experience or 
> knowledge, but a friend convinced me to buy a Mac and told me about 
> Hypercard, and I wanted to try it.  The language being virtually the same 
> through Hypercard, Metacard and now Revolution, yes..... it is easy to 
> use.

For me it was the one code base across multiple platforms.  I'd have been 
just as happy with C++, Pascal etc if the IDE's objects and code linked 
together at design time.  To be honest (and I think a lot of programmers 
coming from "traditional" languages and IDE's would find/feel the same) the 
whole concept stumped me.  The simplicity was so simple I couldn't get it 
and even until recently (after working on Windows stuff for six months in 
Delphi) I could not grok Rev as I was unacustomed to a whole different 
approach to problem solving and expression.  Then it hit me and suddenly it 
all came together and the stuff I write works first time (pretty much). 
There's stuff I'd like Rev to have that it doesn't have, but over time I've 
learned it can be made to do many of those things by thinking outside the 
box. Plus there are the excellent citizens on this email list. :-)

> Yes, there's a lot to learn.  But compared to the alternatives, it is very 
> easy.  Does it still stump me?  Lordy yes!  Do I still get gotchas that 
> take days to unravel?  Lordy yes!  But if it were C... those days would 
> likely be months.

That does depend on how much time you spend typing and compiling it. <g> 
Many years ago when DOS stood for Disk Operating System and not Denial of 
Service there was a little IDE called "Layout".  It produced the tiniest of 
binary program files (exe's), had the ability to use dll type libraries 
before Windows did and it was totally graphical (looked like Windows 3.1). 
There was *no code*.  It was done with objects and you connected them like a 
flowchart.  Objects where either "Black boxes" that were functions and 
procedures that you poked varialbles into or variables of types.  It was 
billed as the ultimate in easy to use - and it was once you "got it'. Sadly 
it disapeared when Windows 95 came out.

Scott Kane
"Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come."  Victor Hugo