Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utcsrgv.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utcsrgv!lgondor
From: lgondor@utcsrgv.UUCP (Les Gondor)
Newsgroups: net.cog-eng
Subject: expert/novice interface in one program
Message-ID: <1989@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 18-Aug-83 09:30:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.1989
Posted: Thu Aug 18 09:30:58 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 18-Aug-83 09:45:04 EDT
Organization: CSRG, University of Toronto
Lines: 27

Here at the University of Toronto's Structured Sound Synthesis Project
(a research group devoted to computer music) we have faced the problem
of both experienced and novice users using the same program.  Unix, with
option flags and other command line arguments makes for a good interface
for expert users but is usually intimidating and confusing for a novice.
Hence, we have adopted the practice of writing software with graduated
front ends.  If a novice user (typically a musician/composer with absolutely
no computer programming experience and sometimes no computer experience
as well) types in the name of a command alone, he or she receives prompts
for the relevant data (name of the music file, name of output file, etc.).
On the other hand, an expert user would tend to incorporate all of the
required information in the command line.  This practice is used only in
the basically non-interactive programs, menu-driven programs present
uniform interfaces to the outside world.

The question is, how many other people out there have used the same
approach in serving a user community of widely varying competence?
What other approaches have you tried?

Interesting thoughts to the net or reply by mail and I will summarize
to this group.

From the idle port of:
Les Gondor, U of Toronto CSRG
{linus,floyd,allegra,ihnp4,mhtsa,uw-beaver,decvax!utzoo}!utcsrgv!lgondor
ARPAddress: utcsrgv!lgondor@UW-BEAVER