Re: rough first impressions

[Raffael Cavallaro <raffaelcavallaro@xxxxxxx>]

On Tuesday, April 15, 2003, at 06:08 AM, Michael Schuerig wrote:

> Maybe you just need an editor that displays the "cryptic" keyword as
> some huge icon. Of course, it would have to expand the shortcut to this
> icon, too, when typing. I'm sure there's an Emacs wizard somewhere
> who'd accomplish this easily...
>

Mockery won't make saving screen columns any less irrelevant as 
technology moves forward. I'm old enough to remember the same sorts of 
taunts from keypunch jockeys about using a line editor on a terminal 
"real programmers don't need an editor." Then the same sorts of jibes 
about screen editors "a line editor is good enough for me," the 
implication being that using a screen editor (emacs, e.g., is a screen 
editor in the parlance of those days) was a crutch for lame programmers.

To not use every advantage that this technology gives us, especially 
when designing a language, an activity which should be forward looking, 
is simply begging to be relegated to the dustbin of computing history.



Raffael Cavallaro, Ph.D.
raffaelcavallaro@mac.com