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A comment on Design Principles Behind Smalltalk (1981). Parent comment

Re:Design Principles Behind Smalltalk (1981) by roeles on Saturday May 21, 2022 @03:41AM (#31456049)
In some talks, Alan Kay mentioned something like the user understanding a simplified model in his head. I believe he mentioned the user should be able to understand a modern car through the mental model of a Ford model T.

Edit: Alan Kay sometimes also mentions "slogan land", where you state things too black and white, so that management types understand the essence. Perhaps that applies to these rules too.

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Re:Design Principles Behind Smalltalk (1981) by mbrodersen on Saturday May 21, 2022 @08:34PM (#31463690)
I am pretty sure very few people driving cars understand how a Ford T works. Can they explain how a combustion engine works? Can they even explain the run cycle of a single cylinder? I doubt it. The mental model people use for driving cars is extremely simple compared with how a Ford T model actually works.
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