Re:Emacs: Contextual Interfaces in Casual Calc
by skydhash on Wednesday August 14, 2024 @09:13AM
(#41245709)
A smartphone is very restricted in interaction. You can learn most of the patterns by just playing with it. Yo will still need the manual to do stuff that requires sequences of actions
The terminal is even more restricted, but it has greater versality because commands can be anything. You don’t go to the manual to learn how to use a terminal, you go to it to learn what are the commands and their parameter. And the shell that evaluates the command can be complex enough to require its own manual.
TUIs are more like musical instruments (without the tangibility). You can discover pretty easily that hitting the keys produces sounds, but playing a piece well requires training and a lot of music theory to communicate with fellow musicians. It seems fair that operating a computer requires the same thing.
The terminal is even more restricted, but it has greater versality because commands can be anything. You don’t go to the manual to learn how to use a terminal, you go to it to learn what are the commands and their parameter. And the shell that evaluates the command can be complex enough to require its own manual.
TUIs are more like musical instruments (without the tangibility). You can discover pretty easily that hitting the keys produces sounds, but playing a piece well requires training and a lot of music theory to communicate with fellow musicians. It seems fair that operating a computer requires the same thing.