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From: koved@umcp-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.cog-eng
Subject: expert-friendly: are long names a waste of time?
Message-ID: <4171@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 1-Dec-83 21:28:15 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.4171
Posted: Thu Dec  1 21:28:15 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Dec-83 04:52:20 EST
Organization: Univ. of Maryland, Computer Science Dept.
Lines: 48

.
I think that you missed the point that I was trying to make.

The problem lies when people have to use more than one system at
a time (ie: more than one computer, or more than one software system
on a computer system).  If each such system has its own abbreviations
and synonyms for the desired functions, a person would have to constantly
have to consult reference manuals and other sources just to be able to
use each of the systems.  This becomes confusting when each such system
has its own editor, text formatter, mail system, file system directory
command, etc.  If each such system tends (notice that I have not REQUIRED
each system to be the SAME) to have similar command names (the full name),
it is easier to move between environments.

For example, I may use a computer during the day to do the following
activities:

Document preparation (reports, presentation materials, memos, etc.)
Mail
Database retrieval
Write programs (including writing, compiling and debugging)
Read the news and bulletin boards


If each system had the same command to do a particular activity (such as
print the current information on the terminal) such as the "print" command.
If each system had a different abbreviation, changing contexts (moving from
system to system) would become mentally taxing!  How could you remember
what the *correct* abbreviation currently is if you must know which
system you are currently in?  If the set of abbreviations is  
{p, pr, pri, print, prt, pt}, you would have to do a mental context
swap every time you entered (or popped back into) a different software
environment!  I run into this problem frequently when I am using 4 or
5 different editors/text processing applications concurrently.

There is no doubt that there is a need for abbreviations and synonyms,
or menus, or some other time saving devices, but that is no excuse to
reduce commands to 1-3 letter/number abbreviations which can only be
remembered by experts!   Remember, as systems become more complex
and sophisticated, the number of experts who know EVERYTHING about  
the system becomes smaller.  The remainder of the people have to look
up the commands and syntax when they want to tread in new areas,   
or areas which are not their area of expertise.

Larry Koved
U. of Maryland