3 ms·

The parsed version flashing every time a change was made was distracting… you don’t want to keep having your eyes pulled away from where you are writing. Also,

The parsed version flashing every time a change was made was distracting… you don’t want to keep having your eyes pulled away from where you are writing. Also, having all of the input terms be integers, yet the answer returned as a floating point, seems a basic type error. In general, though, it seems to miss the mark. If you’re going with a hybrid electronic/pen approach, why not let the computer handle the annoying bits, like having to wrap things in parentheses that you manually need to keep balanced? Why not draw a circle around some terms, and have that get used for grouping? Why not have the entry itself be interactive, like in the works of Bret Victor?

mlajtos 5y ago
> The parsed version flashing every time a change was made was distracting… you don’t want to keep having your eyes pulled away from where you are writing. Totally. > Also, having all of the input terms be integers, yet the answer returned as a floating point, seems a basic type error. Spot on. > In general, though, it seems to miss the mark. If you’re going with a hybrid electronic/pen approach, why not let the computer handle the annoying bits, like having to wrap things in parentheses that you manually need to keep balanced? Why not draw a circle around some terms, and have that get used for grouping? Why not have the entry itself be interactive, like in the works of Bret Victor? I am familiar with Bret Victor's work, but I don't know which interaction you have in mind. I think he would despise any such notation akin to APL.
- mcphage 5y ago
  > I am familiar with Bret Victor's work, but I don't know which interaction you have in mind. Just the idea that since you’re working on a computer, you should be able to take advantage of it. So once the numbers are in there, you should be able to tweak them around without having to re-write everything. What if this value was higher? What if it was lower? How would that affect the results? Let the calculation be explorable.
  - mlajtos 5y ago
    Oh yes, I definitely have this on my mind.

mlajtos 5y ago

> The parsed version flashing every time a change was made was distracting… you don’t want to keep having your eyes pulled away from where you are writing. Totally. > Also, having all of the input terms be integers, yet the answer returned as a floating point, seems a basic type error. Spot on. > In general, though, it seems to miss the mark. If you’re going with a hybrid electronic/pen approach, why not let the computer handle the annoying bits, like having to wrap things in parentheses that you manually need to keep balanced? Why not draw a circle around some terms, and have that get used for grouping? Why not have the entry itself be interactive, like in the works of Bret Victor? I am familiar with Bret Victor's work, but I don't know which interaction you have in mind. I think he would despise any such notation akin to APL.

mcphage 5y ago
> I am familiar with Bret Victor's work, but I don't know which interaction you have in mind. Just the idea that since you’re working on a computer, you should be able to take advantage of it. So once the numbers are in there, you should be able to tweak them around without having to re-write everything. What if this value was higher? What if it was lower? How would that affect the results? Let the calculation be explorable.
- mlajtos 5y ago
  Oh yes, I definitely have this on my mind.