Avi Bryant wrote:

>Well, kinda.  This is from 
>http://acmqueue.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=273
>
>"Q: What do you wish you had done differently in the Smalltalk era?
>
>A: I had the world's greatest group, and I should have made the
>world's two greatest groups. I didn't realize there are benefits to
>having real implementers and real users, and there are benefits to
>starting from scratch every few months. I hired finishers because I'm
>a good starter and a poor finisher, but it took me a long time to
>realize that I was interfering with them by trying to improve things."
>  
>
_That_ is an important point to consider for Squeak.
I wonder how that can be accomplished virtually. It would seem to be 
more of a project management problem than a technical issue.

My story:
I'm a user... at least a "user" from the ST perspective: one who 
adds/modifies the existing image for usefulness for oneself.

I'm creating audio tools using Squeak (albeit, off-and-on inbetween 
creating music to pay the bills).
I love it, but from a user's pov I wish things were a bit more usable. 
Before you start telling me how usable Squeak really is, let me say that 
for the most part I agree. However, from my perspective, UI tools are a 
serious deficiency -- an area one would imagine naturally came bundled 
with Squeak (see below for what I see as deficient.) I don't have one 
itsy-bitsy problem with the concept of an improving image by the 
community. I welcome it. But, I see so many messages discussing getting 
rid of Morphic or improving it or....<insert the next idea here> that I 
think maybe some fundamental problems are being overlooked.

The fact is that it's just hard for me to build an interface quickly to 
try out audio ideas -- I end up experimenting in a trial-&-error loop 
just to get basic widgets up. Sometimes, I just can't figure it out so I 
end up re-inventing. I do care about how "cool" it looks -- but I'm more 
concerned with the functionality behind the buttons (which seems to work 
fine so far -- knock on wood).

Perhaps if better documentation was available to help me figure out what 
is what. Not reams of docs -- just consistent, clear and thorough class 
comments would be a big improvement. (ahem, deficiency)
I think it would be great if Tweak offered a better (and more 
documented) way of accomplishing interfaces. BUT (that's a big but) what 
I've been viewing is that the community likes to start great ideas, but 
not always finish them (don't throw anything at me, please.) Heck, I 
would be pleased (uh, very happy) if Morphic had complete documentation 
and everything worked.

brad

another, somewhat OT, quote from the article that hit home:
"Once you have something that grows faster than education grows, you’re 
always going to get a pop culture."


-- 
________________________________
Hear us online: www.Sonaural.com
Brad Fuller
(408) 799-6124
** Sonaural Audio Studios **
(408) 799-6123  West San Jose
(408) 799-6124  Cambrian