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In that spirit, I find it hilarious that the entire industry proudly releases products weekly that do things like re-order laundry detergent at the press of a b

by oneJob 11y ago

In that spirit, I find it hilarious that the entire industry proudly releases products weekly that do things like re-order laundry detergent at the press of a button or games that require the player to do nothing more than swipe their finger this way or that. On the other hand then there is this long raging religious war over the tools used to build these products where some claim the end all be all is this text only, esoteric, super high learning curve tool. Sure it's superpowerful once mastered, but as in so many other areas, the argument that you just made seems to carry the day: let the machine do the work. Also, Minority Report.

danso 11y ago
Text-interfaces are the most direct and flexible way to get the machine to do work. When you're stuck to a consumer-friendly GUI, you can only command the computer the way the product has been designed to command the computer. You learn how to use a product rather than how to teach the computer. That said, of course I use a web browser for 99% of my Internet actions. But being able to Alt-Tab into the terminal and run wget to quickly pull down a list of files may feel like 1970s-era, but it's still a powerful technique today, and for as long as users need to do things beyond what designers intended them to.
- oneJob 11y ago
  Respectfully, I propose you are limiting yourself when using left-to-right text-interfaces. I think consumer-friendly may be a bit unfair as well. I'm currently learning sign language and in parallel programming a Leap Motion interface so as to bypass one-dimension (a line of symbols) and two-dimensions (a gui on a plane) and more easily encapsulate concepts (words) by states of motion in three dimensions. Text-interfaces work well because they restrict input to precise parameters, however as interfaces become "smarter" and are able to capture the meaning of imprecise interfaces such as hand gestures and interpret them precisely without requiring the user to deliver them with robotic precision, interfaces will become more expressive, we will be able to work more naturally in the domain in which we think, which is, these physical three dimensions. If you've ever watched a mathematics professor write on the chalk board you'll know what I mean. So expressive. So much conveyed with so few markings. And yet, very sloppy. But still. Reading it off the board, those symbols just feel so much better in your head than any words would.

by oneJob 11y ago

danso 11y ago

Text-interfaces are the most direct and flexible way to get the machine to do work. When you're stuck to a consumer-friendly GUI, you can only command the computer the way the product has been designed to command the computer. You learn how to use a product rather than how to teach the computer. That said, of course I use a web browser for 99% of my Internet actions. But being able to Alt-Tab into the terminal and run wget to quickly pull down a list of files may feel like 1970s-era, but it's still a powerful technique today, and for as long as users need to do things beyond what designers intended them to.

oneJob 11y ago
Respectfully, I propose you are limiting yourself when using left-to-right text-interfaces. I think consumer-friendly may be a bit unfair as well. I'm currently learning sign language and in parallel programming a Leap Motion interface so as to bypass one-dimension (a line of symbols) and two-dimensions (a gui on a plane) and more easily encapsulate concepts (words) by states of motion in three dimensions. Text-interfaces work well because they restrict input to precise parameters, however as interfaces become "smarter" and are able to capture the meaning of imprecise interfaces such as hand gestures and interpret them precisely without requiring the user to deliver them with robotic precision, interfaces will become more expressive, we will be able to work more naturally in the domain in which we think, which is, these physical three dimensions. If you've ever watched a mathematics professor write on the chalk board you'll know what I mean. So expressive. So much conveyed with so few markings. And yet, very sloppy. But still. Reading it off the board, those symbols just feel so much better in your head than any words would.