Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!decwrl!apple!apple.com!chewy
From: chewy@apple.com (Paul Snively)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: The programming CULT
Message-ID: <9651@goofy.Apple.COM>
Date: 9 Aug 90 17:37:38 GMT
Sender: usenet@Apple.COM
Organization: Apple Computer, Inc.
Lines: 48
References:<312@sun13.scri.fsu.edu> <2840.26b7eb6e@cc.helsinki.fi> <188@sierra.STANFORD.EDU> <2856.26bd2bf0@cc.helsinki.fi> <3297@stl.stc.co.uk>

In article <3297@stl.stc.co.uk> dswt@stl.stc.co.uk (Stewart Tansley) 
writes:
> [Then Matti replies...]
> >The point I was trying to make is that MOST OF THE PEOPLE DO NOT WANT TO
> >USE A COMPUTER, THEY ONLY WANT NEAT PAGES! CTRL-T, "source files",
> >macros and procedures are "inhuman" concepts for them, unnecessary side
> >steps from the main goal. Are we "professionals" force-feeding our
> >perverse world view to users who consider US experts on what THEY want
> >to get done with the computer? I thought Mac was revolutionary; seems 
we can
> >force it to be just another computer..
> 
> Sorry, I just couldn't resist a strong 'here, here' for Matti! *Why* do 
TeX
> fans not get this point? 'CS majors' can keep TeX if they are happy, but
> wordprocessing is not *only* done by CS majors. (By CS majors I'm trying 
to
> imply 'those people that probably enjoy programming at the same time as 
they're 
> trying to write English.)
> 
> My secretary does not want to program - she wants to write a nicely 
formatted
> letter or report. Same for my manager, same for me. I'll leave 
programming to
> the rest of my job, thanks very much.
> 
> Now if Word/Nisus/etc could output in TeX, we'd all be happy, wouldn't 
we? :-)
> Aren't there mega bucks in this idea (not new!)?

Probably not, as the whole point behind TeX and MetaFont is to allow 
excruciating, pinpoint control over the layout--that is, precision far 
beyond what the human machine (brain, nervous system, musculature) is 
capable of.  To output TeX from a WYSIWYG word processor would really only 
be useful if you intended to hand-tweak the resulting TeX output, which 
would tend to defeat the purpose, IMHO.

__________________________________________________________________________
                                Paul Snively
                      Macintosh Developer Technical Support
                             Apple Computer, Inc.

chewy@apple.com

Just because I work for Apple Computer, Inc. doesn't mean that I believe 
what they believe, or vice-versa.
__________________________________________________________________________