Xref: utzoo comp.misc:5809 comp.windows.misc:1109
Path: utzoo!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ficc!peter
From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.windows.misc
Subject: Re: Iconitis
Message-ID: <3895@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 18 Apr 89 10:43:04 GMT
References: <1930@dataio.Data-IO.COM> <11555@lanl.gov> <17376@cisunx.UUCP> <5518@microsoft.UUCP>
Organization: Xenix Support
Lines: 38

In article <5518@microsoft.UUCP>, bruceb@microsoft.UUCP (Bruce Burger) writes:
> Anyway, don't condemn graphics because you don't like a specific feature
> to be implemented interactively.

	a) I'm not harping on a specific feature. A spell-checker is just
	   an example. There are others... compilers, for example.

> A graphical interface is based on the
> premise that not all information is best presented or provided textually.

	b) I understand this. If I didn't, I wouldn't have an Amiga (which
	   lets me use textual, graphic, video, and audio data) now would I?

	   The problem is that not all information is best presented either
	   graphically or interactively... and on the Mac you really don't
	   have an alternative.

> and of course, there are unique merits to a command language.
> They *don't* have to be mutually exclusive!

	c) Surely not. Look at X, News, Display Postscript, etc...

	   It's easier to choose if you're not working on a machine that
	   ties every program to the user-interface.

	   Can you imagine a non-interactive application on the Mac (not
	   device drivers or spoolers, but something like a compiler)?
	   Sure, under MPW. Problem is, now you lose the advantages of
	   the graphics interface. Again, the application is tied to the
	   user interface of the machine as a whole.

	   It's not just the Mac... how many compilers run under Microsoft
	   Windows? Well, there's Actor...
-- 
Peter da Silva, Xenix Support, Ferranti International Controls Corporation.

Business: uunet.uu.net!ficc!peter, peter@ficc.uu.net, +1 713 274 5180.
Personal: ...!texbell!sugar!peter, peter@sugar.hackercorp.com.