4 ms·

there is nothing accessible about modern day computers. we can’t see anything that is going on, and it is terribly difficult if not impossible to change things

there is nothing accessible about modern day computers. we can’t see anything that is going on, and it is terribly difficult if not impossible to change things in most cases. almost all of modern computing is a collection of tunnel visioned boxes that can’t communicate with each other. i just don’t see how you can claim “normal” computer programs let you choose how you interact with them. i don’t see that at all. i think you miss the point of dynamicland because it is about accessibility. it is about touching. it is about seeing. in dynamicland, there are a multitude of ways to interact with the system.

miki123211 8y ago
I haven't experienced it myself, though I've read about it a lot. As far as I see it, the code is actually somewhere in the real world, on a whiteboard, on paper or on anything else. That means that, to change the code, you actually need to be able to touch that paper/whiteboard/whatever. If you have a visual or mobility impairment, you're excluded. We're confusing two notions of accessibility here. Dynamicland is more accessible for a normal user who wants to tinker under the hood (compared to closed source apps). It's less accessible for individuals who need alternate representations of the digital reality. With Dynamicland, the code is actually stored in the real world and the computer merely interprets it. If you can't manipulate the real world, you can't manipulate the code. When you use a normal computer system, the program is stored inside that system and you can use any input/output device to manipulate it. That includes keyboards, touchscreens, screen readers, switches, voice control or even brain computer interfaces. Using them to manipulate something written on a whiteboard is impossible. While I agree with the goal of making software and systems more open to the average person, I think solutions like Smalltalk, that don't distinguish between the code itself and it's manifestation and let you open any system and tinker under it's hood, along with better programming literacy taught in schools are the way forward. I agree that smartphone screens with their addictive qualities aren't the best option out there, but I don't think Dynamicland is the solution. Something akeen to it, using AR, or even better, Matrix-like VR when that becomes a thing, would be actually a much better solution. Sadly, we're not there yet.

miki123211 8y ago

I haven't experienced it myself, though I've read about it a lot. As far as I see it, the code is actually somewhere in the real world, on a whiteboard, on paper or on anything else. That means that, to change the code, you actually need to be able to touch that paper/whiteboard/whatever. If you have a visual or mobility impairment, you're excluded. We're confusing two notions of accessibility here. Dynamicland is more accessible for a normal user who wants to tinker under the hood (compared to closed source apps). It's less accessible for individuals who need alternate representations of the digital reality. With Dynamicland, the code is actually stored in the real world and the computer merely interprets it. If you can't manipulate the real world, you can't manipulate the code. When you use a normal computer system, the program is stored inside that system and you can use any input/output device to manipulate it. That includes keyboards, touchscreens, screen readers, switches, voice control or even brain computer interfaces. Using them to manipulate something written on a whiteboard is impossible. While I agree with the goal of making software and systems more open to the average person, I think solutions like Smalltalk, that don't distinguish between the code itself and it's manifestation and let you open any system and tinker under it's hood, along with better programming literacy taught in schools are the way forward. I agree that smartphone screens with their addictive qualities aren't the best option out there, but I don't think Dynamicland is the solution. Something akeen to it, using AR, or even better, Matrix-like VR when that becomes a thing, would be actually a much better solution. Sadly, we're not there yet.