Re: Focus Drive //e woes

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

mdj wrote:

> I won't go as far as some and say the GUI's are bad, but I decided a
> long time ago that using an imperative language to describe a visual
> interface was a terrible design idea. User interface definitions are
> only just barely succinct when done declaratively, and it takes a
> combination of a readable declarative language and excellent visual
> design tools to do it well.

GUIs are great for most users, but needlessly complex for programmers.

It reminds me of how variable fonts changed word processing.  It used
to be that a one page memo took 10 minutes to decide what to say and
how to say it and 5 minutes to type.

Now it takes 5 minutes to type, 10 minutes to choose fonts, and there's
only a minute or two spent on content and expression.

The triumph of form over content.  ;-)

> The only system I've seen that did it reasonably well was NeXTStep, and
> that was 15 years ago. I don't know enough about MacOS X to know if
> that legacy has been kept alive.

NeXTStep was an amazing platform--well ahead of its time.

Programmer productivity was so high that it was not credible to
many developers--and particularly to their decision-making managers.

-michael

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