I'd like to be a bit provocative and claim that it may be the
researchers on this list who are ignoring the main issues:
1. The Thimbleby calculator is designed to help *learn about*
calculations, not to *do* calculations. The criteria are quite
different, and in some cases - completely opposite. When designing
technology for performing a task, you will want it to be invisible, not
get in your way of doing your thing. When designing technology for
learning, you often intentionaly make it provoke thinking by forcing
users to solve problems. We call thins "design for cognitive conflict".
2. The Thimbleby calculator is designed for electronic whiteboards, a
notoriously wasted resource. In terms of HCI, it would be hard to find
parallels between an HP calculator and an electronic whiteboard.
I'm not claiming that their project is faultless in any of these
dimensions, only that this is where the discussion should be (or at
least, part of it).
cheers,
- Yishay
Frank Wales wrote:
Anyway, bizarrely enough, the design of programmable
calculators and their languages is actually on-topic for
PPIG discuss, so I'm going to take the opportunity to
plug a book I worked on that contains a bunch of
information about how calculators were designed, and
how people used them:
http://www.limov.com/rcl20
You can even read how my life was changed by them,
if you're really at a loose end:
http://www.limov.com/rcl20/chapter.lml
Okay, plug over; I now return you to your irregularly
scheduled exchange of varyingly-considered opinions
while I go off to the PPIG dinner for fun and eats.
--
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