WARNING: RAVE It's the simplicity of the ZX81 that appeals to me - especially the small number of commands available, in BASIC and Z-80 machine code. It's conc

WARNING: RAVE It's the simplicity of the ZX81 that appeals to me - especially the small number of commands available, in BASIC and Z-80 machine code. It's concrete and graspable, and possible to get on top of to master some of it perfectly - a toy world, a tiny playground to play in. The small universe makes it easier to be sure you've got the best solution, and limited options make choices clearer and easier to evaluate. I've managed to get some of that feeling from Java and discrete mathematics - though that essential thrill of efficiency and certainty is missing... In my current project, I'm trying to create that kind of playground for users, where the choices are concrete and combine orthogonally. I'm aiming for it to appeal to "my people" (i.e. who appreciate what I do), instead of to the naysayers, or opinions about how you "should" do things. I think it requires a kind of genius, to make the abstract concrete. To me, it's a worthy goal. Fortunately, you can create a work of genius without actually being a genius - provided that (1) you spend a lot of time and effort; (2) you make definite progress; and (3) can link those pieces of progress together, so you build higher and higher. Well, I sure hope I can. :-)