🚀 go-pugleaf

I think the noun-verb/verb-noun distinction that David Seah tries to
describe isn't syntactic, but more like the difference between a drill
press and a hand drill.  You take your object to a drill press, but
you apply the hand drill to your object.  It's the difference between
a tool and an appliance, between a knife and a food processor.

The MacPaint-style interface has both tools and appliances; you select
a pencil tool and draw lines, but you select part of the drawing and
duplicate it.

People certainly seem to have no problems using both tools and
appliances in real life.  The distinction is a little hazy, but tools
are used when building or crafting, while appliances are used when
doing, accomplishing things.

This is the difference between, say, Unix and VMS.  Unix is a rack of
tools, while VMS is a room full of appliances.  Many people who just
want to get things done are happier with full-feature appliances.  In
contrast, the hacker mentality is one that thrives on tools; hackers
will build a doorbell if they need one and don't see one handy.
--
Felix Lee	flee@cs.psu.edu