The Fool wrote:
>
> > From: Davd Brin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >
> > > There are many freely and easily available
> > > compilers in many
> > > languages so this doesn't really disturb me. I've
> > > heard Yet Another
> > > Basic is good (though I haven't used it myself):
> > > http://www.yabasic.de/
> >
> > I shall try ybasic, thanks.
> >
> > But after the horror of trying xbasic and qbasic and
> > all the others, I do not expect much success. All
> > were created by techies who suffer from
> > techie-disease... an absolute assumption that
> > everyboddy who downloads their compiler will instantly
> > and miraculously know how to use it. The manuals are
> > gibberish. There is nothing at all resembling a simple
> > place to write line by line code and simply typr
> > "run".
>
> Visual basic does everything you describe except 'run', because modern
> interpreters are not essentially acting as a command line operating
> system, they just interpret code. The way VB does it is better: it's
> simpler, it's more intuitive, and it work the way 99% of all modern
> programming environments work. You push a VCR button (play) to run,
> pause, or stop code execution. The same way a...VCR works. The same way
> most electronic devices work.
Yeah, well, some people took to command lines, and are a lot happier
using command lines than GUIs. I realize such people are in the
minority, but if you don't understand that there is such a minority and
that they get frustrated with GUIs because the command line is just a
lot more *logical* (but maybe less intuitive for the majority) and that
they operate more on logic than intuition, you're going to make them
unhappy by dismissing their preferences.
Sort of like the car dealer who totally lost the sale with my mother
when she expressed a preference for a manual transmission (she has
never, ever, ever driven an automatic, narrowly dodging *that* bullet
last summer) and responded to her with a smile, saying, "Oh, most women
really prefer an automatic," as if what SHE, the individual, wanted and
didn't want was totally beside the point.
(Figure out where people's lines are drawn, and don't cross them. DB
has laid out the location of his line, and you're trying to push him to
the other side of it when he just won't go there.)
Julia
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