🚀 go-pugleaf

RetroBBS NetNews Server

Inspired by RockSolid Light RIP Retro Guy

Article View: comp.cog-eng
Article #273

Re: Tools vs Appliances (Re: Noun-Verb vs Verb-Noun)

#273
From: Matti Pettersson
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 1990 07:16
24 lines
1639 bytes
In article <F7s.2f21@cs.psu.edu> flee@guardian.cs.psu.edu (Felix Lee) writes:
>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.


Two points:

(1) There are two ways of seeing (analogies) the human-computer
interface.  One way is to see it as a language medium and the other
as a world to act (see f.g. Hutchins et.al., Direct Manipulation
Interfaces, in Norman and Draper (eds.) User Centered System Design).

(2) When editing a text for example, you are scanning through the text
on the screen.  Now when you come across a typing error, it is quite
natural to select the object first and then look after a suitable tool
instead of searching for a tool, returning to the text and locating
the typing error once again.  


---
Matti Pettersson, mpe@cs.uta.fi
Technical Details
Message-ID: <1473@kielo.uta.fi>
Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!samsung!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uupsi!sunic!tut!uta!ohdake!mpe
References: <1990Jul16.214644.3009@ee.rochester.edu> <OGDEN.90Jul18112959@aigyptos.nmsu.edu> <F7s.2f21@cs.psu.edu>

Show Full Headers
Complete Article Headers
Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!samsung!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uupsi!sunic!tut!uta!ohdake!mpe
From: mpe@ohdake.uta.fi (Matti Pettersson)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: Tools vs Appliances (Re: Noun-Verb vs Verb-Noun)
Message-ID: <1473@kielo.uta.fi>
Date: 23 Jul 90 07:16:46 GMT
References: <1990Jul16.214644.3009@ee.rochester.edu> <OGDEN.90Jul18112959@aigyptos.nmsu.edu> <F7s.2f21@cs.psu.edu>
Sender: news@uta.fi
Reply-To: mpe@ohdake.uta.fi (Matti Pettersson)
Organization: University of Tampere, Finland
Lines: 24