From: Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org>
To: emacs-devel@gnu.org
Subject: Re: base
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:27:04 +0900 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <87eidm5a0n.fsf@catnip.gol.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 83mxsam5lh.fsf@gnu.org
Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> That wasn't the answer I was expecting. I expected to see several
> possible workflows with some analysis of their merits and demerits.
> There's no need to know how a repository stores its info for that.
The "list some workflows" method quickly breaks down except for
extremely simple tools (which few tools are), because it would entail
enumerating a huge number of possible scenarios; not only is this hard
for the developer, but it's very hard for the user to remember and use
beyond a certain point.
A model does _not_ need to be the same as the actual implementation --
rather it's a highly efficient and usable way for the user to understand
the tool.
Since you said you had a degree in physics, think of it in those terms:
people do lots of experiments, but people don't teach physics as a rote
series of "if you do X, then Y happens" -- that would be madness.
Instead, they use experiments to develop a model of how things work,
which can be much more easily taught, and is much more useful once
learned. Our model of physics (and of course there are multiple
co-existent models representing different levels of details) necessarily
"real" of course, but represents our best effort in encoding what we
observe in a way that allows us to make predictions about unobserved
behavior.
For software of course, often the user-model can be based on the
implementation (though almost always simplifying it), especially if the
implementation is relatively simple and consistent.
It sometimes takes a little extra effort for the user to learn a model
instead of a rote list of actions, but it pays back hugely in giving the
user power over his tool.
-Miles
--
Patience, n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2010-08-26 3:27 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 105+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2010-08-22 12:06 base Alan Mackenzie
2010-08-22 12:20 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-22 13:01 ` base Alan Mackenzie
2010-08-22 12:50 ` base Teemu Likonen
2010-08-22 13:20 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-23 10:38 ` base Uday S Reddy
2010-08-23 11:03 ` base Leo
2010-08-23 12:56 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-24 4:32 ` base Richard Stallman
2010-08-24 6:01 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-24 7:22 ` base Leo
2010-08-24 8:29 ` base Andreas Schwab
2010-08-24 8:34 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-24 9:10 ` base Miles Bader
2010-08-24 10:03 ` base Juanma Barranquero
2010-08-24 13:39 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-24 14:05 ` base Miles Bader
2010-08-24 15:00 ` base Andreas Schwab
2010-08-24 16:14 ` base Juanma Barranquero
2010-08-24 12:32 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-24 12:51 ` base Leo
2010-08-24 13:39 ` base Juanma Barranquero
2010-08-24 14:25 ` base Óscar Fuentes
2010-08-24 16:18 ` base Juanma Barranquero
2010-08-24 14:37 ` base David Kastrup
2010-08-24 16:22 ` base Juanma Barranquero
2010-08-24 16:38 ` base David Kastrup
2010-08-24 17:22 ` base Juanma Barranquero
2010-08-24 17:35 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-24 17:45 ` base Frank Schmitt
2010-08-25 4:33 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-25 6:38 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-25 8:48 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-25 9:02 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-25 13:17 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-25 18:12 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-25 20:34 ` base Óscar Fuentes
2010-08-25 20:43 ` base Bernardo Barros
2010-08-25 20:55 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-24 18:00 ` base Leo
2010-08-24 19:04 ` base Juanma Barranquero
2010-08-24 23:44 ` base Miles Bader
2010-08-24 23:48 ` base Juanma Barranquero
2010-08-25 0:19 ` base Miles Bader
2010-08-25 3:13 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-25 3:44 ` base Miles Bader
2010-08-25 5:46 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-25 8:15 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-25 9:35 ` base Uday S Reddy
2010-08-25 10:43 ` base Juanma Barranquero
2010-08-25 15:34 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-25 11:21 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-25 13:13 ` base Óscar Fuentes
2010-08-25 15:11 ` base Harald Hanche-Olsen
2010-08-25 19:08 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-25 19:07 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-25 21:06 ` base Óscar Fuentes
2010-08-26 3:10 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-26 3:27 ` Miles Bader [this message]
2010-08-26 3:29 ` base Miles Bader
2010-08-26 5:37 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-26 6:29 ` base Leo
2010-08-26 8:23 ` base Uday S Reddy
2010-08-26 9:16 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-26 12:25 ` base Uday S Reddy
2010-08-26 12:35 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-26 13:27 ` base Óscar Fuentes
2010-08-26 13:49 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-26 14:42 ` base Óscar Fuentes
2010-08-26 15:11 ` base David Robinow
2010-08-26 15:50 ` base Óscar Fuentes
2010-08-26 15:28 ` base David Kastrup
2010-08-27 5:33 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-27 13:25 ` base Óscar Fuentes
2010-08-28 15:18 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-26 11:01 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-26 17:08 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-27 13:03 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-27 13:52 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-27 14:25 ` base Miles Bader
2010-08-27 15:25 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-28 16:25 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-28 17:32 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-28 18:58 ` base Leo
2010-08-28 19:58 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-28 22:51 ` base Leo
2010-08-28 19:16 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-28 20:00 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-29 12:21 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-26 18:09 ` base Uday S Reddy
2010-08-25 16:09 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-25 18:51 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-26 10:25 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-26 11:26 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-26 11:52 ` base Leo
2010-08-27 5:43 ` base Stephen J. Turnbull
2010-08-27 6:57 ` base Eli Zaretskii
2010-08-27 7:06 ` base David Kastrup
2010-08-27 13:16 ` base Óscar Fuentes
2010-08-25 7:38 ` base Leo
2010-08-25 7:41 ` base Juanma Barranquero
2010-08-25 13:23 ` base Teemu Likonen
2010-08-25 9:07 ` base Uday S Reddy
2010-08-24 14:09 ` base Miles Bader
2010-08-24 14:13 ` base Miles Bader
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