Thinking about a better UI

Randal L. Schwartz merlyn at stonehenge.com
Sat May 15 16:12:14 UTC 1999


>>>>> "Joachim" == Joachim Durchholz <joachim.durchholz at munich.netsurf.de> writes:

Joachim> This was one of my initial grudges against Smalltalk: Lots of new words
Joachim> meaning just the same old stuff, making it difficult to understand what
Joachim> was really new about Smalltalk. Just try it:

Joachim>   Smalltalk terminology   Standard terminology
Joachim>     method                  subroutine
Joachim>     message send            subroutine call
Joachim>     object                  data structure
Joachim>     self                    first parameter

Saying a message send is a subroutine call is akin to calling "a car"
just "a slightly faster horse".  You damage the ability to grok the
differences by misnaming it.  If I had thought of a car as an
extension of a horse, I would never have considered taking my car
somewhere and parking it for a week without care, or driving it day
and night using two drivers.

The wrong model is deadly.  It limits thinking -- you won't even know
to ask questions about what you don't know, in terms of the
differences.

A "message send" is NOT a subroutine call.  Even calling it one
doesn't make it one. :)

-- 
Name: Randal L. Schwartz / Stonehenge Consulting Services (503)777-0095
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