[OT] HyperCard and the Interactive Web

[Kay C Lan]

On Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 4:26 PM, Richmond <richmondmathewson at gmail.com>wrote:

> I have hacked the system
> menus so NOTHING else is available at all.
>
> Sorry, I'm confused.

Were not previous posts all about how hopeless the kids today are because
they can't even fathom the file system, and here you are denying it to them.

Have I not read your evangelical posts about the freedom of Linux and the
evil of Apple's walled empire, and yet you've just hemmed your victims in,
with limited scope for using their imagination in any direction other than
where you deem it will be of value. Steve would be proud.

As you can guess I do not agree with your general line of argument, and as
others have pointed out, find it intriguing that you should choose 'the
command line' as the point of reference, when obviously there will be those
(particularly in the more traditional programming mailing lists who think
XTalk languages are a toy) who argue than anyone who can only deal with
command lines and not punch cards and assembler language are pampered and
uneducated in the true principles needed to 'understand' computers.

I'm with all those who say good riddance. Give me LC and make it as easy as
possible for me. The kids of today will do just fine.

The need to understand the file system? Please, it's only an illusion.
Someone posted that their students only know how to access their files via
Spotlight. I dream of the day my wife stops pointing and clicking to
navigate to a file and instead uses Spotlight. It's 1000 times faster. The
files do not reside neatly in alphabetical order in sub-folder that are
neatly ordered in folders. They are strewn across a HD as randomly as a
1000 teenage FaceBook posts and are managed by a database management system
that I'd be surprised if anyone here has spent any time studying at all.

In the future someone might come up with a beads, cup and tray illusion
although it's more likely to be a wall and tweet analogy. Either way, all
it will do is hide the underlying complexity so as to present us with the
fastest interaction what we 'percieve' to be something we know about.

All this thread has confirmed is that we are getting way too old ;-)

And just for reference, I take a slide-rule to work with me every day, but
only every use it about once or twice a year, on the odd occasion when I
think the computer systems are giving me duff gen. Invariably the computers
are right.

Which brings me to my own (long and probably boring) analogy.

Years ago a mate of mine was the navigator on a vessel which was taking a
scientific expedition to the antarctic. On board were a film crew who were
going to doing a documentary on the expedition itself - not really
interested in the mode of transport there and back.

Tiger, not one to avoid the limelight, decided - when one of the film crew
were in sight - why not dust off the old sextant and do a Sun shot. So
here's Tiger, sextant mounted, commanding the Capt to maintain a constant
heading whilst he takes the required three Sun shots. The film crew were
naturally intrigued and asked if they could film and ask a few questions.
Tiger was in his element.

Film Crew: "So Navigator Meadows, what are you doing?"
Tiger: "I'm taking a Sun shot, a means of celestial navigation to ensure we
are where we are suppose to be. You see, although this vessel is fitted
with the Litton72 Inertial Navigation System, the most advanced navigation
equipment known to man. It is made by man, and therefore prone to error. On
the other hand, since the dawn of time man has navigated by the stars,
fixed in heaven by the gods, precise throughout eternity. By performing
this Sun shot I'm just confirming that the INSs haven't started to wander.

Tiger then proceeded to get out his Almanac and extract the required
numbers to enter into the necessary formulas to combine with the figures
he'd got from his Sun shot to conclude with a Latitude and Longitude. With
an air or pomp he concluded by stabbing his pencil into the paper.

Film Crew: "Well Navigator Meadows, how are we doing?"
Tiger: "By my calculations, the INSs are doing just fine, they are within 2
nautical miles of where we are suppose to be, and considering the distance
we've already covered, that's very good indeed."

And so with that, the Film Crew packed up and went back to playing cards
and whatever else to while away the time.

Tiger confided in me later on, that his actual calculation had them 2000nm
away from where the INS said they were. Needles to say, he figured the INSs
were right and later, when no one was looking, did the Sun shots again to
figure out where he'd gone wrong.

I have a GPS on my bicycle. Many people have them in their cars. Do we all
really need to know how to use a sextant and an Almanac before we let these
things navigate for us?