Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!sun!grendal!acm
From: acm@grendal.Sun.COM (Andrew MacRae)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Now that the smoke had cleared (Honest Mac/IBM questions)
Message-ID: <129740@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 29 Dec 89 22:52:35 GMT
References: <1284@marlin.NOSC.MIL> <970@v7fs1.UUCP> <129727@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <30290@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Sender: news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM
Reply-To: acm@sun.UUCP (Andrew MacRae)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 43

In article <30290@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> srt@cs.ucla.edu (Scott Turner) writes:
>Differing computing paradigms but the same task paradigm.  Rephrase
>the question slightly: How do I take the output from my test program,
>pull out the column of numbers I'm interested in, sort it, and print
>it on my LW?  Not terribly difficult in the PC/Unix world - you just
>string together some tools "test | awk | sort | print" or whatever.
>Nearly impossible on the Mac.
>
>Similarly the question of looking at files not in the current
>(environment i.e., directory in DOS/Unix, folder in Mac-ese).  That's
>a task you often want to perform, and one that is annoyingly hard on
>the Mac.  (And sometimes also difficult under DOS/Unix, which is by no
>means perfect.)
>
>So I don't think you can toss these questions off as paradigm
>differences.  They address real tasks that the poster expects to
>encounter in his day-to- day computing.  A better response might be to
>explain why he won't be involved in those tasks if he gets a Mac.

Please understand that I am not a Mac user (cannot afford one).  I *do*
use and develop for MSWindows, Unix, plain old MS-DOS, and LISP environments.
So I do not know the 'correct' Mac answer to your questions.  I do know
many Mac users though, and none of them have ever expressed a frustration
at being unable to follow the chain of actions you describe.  This is because
they use their Macs *differently* than we use our PCs.  The same holds true
for the LISP environments with which I am familier.  In that world, using
its paradigm, I would message a sort object that would accept data and perhaps
pass it on elsewhere, all without a command line.

I'm not against command lines, (I use them all the time).  What I am against
is the mixing of the paradigms and the insistence by some that the way *they*
work and view the world is the only correct way for *everyone* to work.

Most of us have found that it is indeed harder to program for the Mac and
other systems of its kind.  But the difficulty we go through (in theory)
is what makes it easier for the end user.  Is there anyone out there who
doesn't recognize that the *typical* (ie: non programmer) computer user
comes up to speed and enjoys the Mac way better than the PC way?  In the
end, what is more important the ease with which we program, or the ease
with which people use our programs?

BTW: I suppose you already have your deposit made on the new Jaguar 220?
     Can break 200 mph and costs only $576,000  :)