> I'd list things such as development velocity and end-product reliability as being far more important.
Your main thesis is that software and computing should be optimized to ship products to consumers.
The main thesis of guys like Alan Kay is that we should strive to make software and computing that is optimized for expanding human potential.
Deep down most of us got in to computing because it is a fantastic way to manipulate our world.
Bret Victor's talks instill a sense of wonderment and discovery, something that has often been brow-beaten out of most of us working stiffs. The talks make us feel like there is more to our profession than just commerce. And you know what? There is. And you've forgotten that to the point where you're actually rallying against it!
> Your main thesis is that software and computing should be optimized to ship products to consumers.
Those were just examples of other things I thought were more important, it wasn't an exhaustive list. However, it's interesting that you focus in on "optimizing to ship products to consumers", when I made mention of no such thing. I mentioned development velocity and end-product reliability. These are things that are important to the process of software development regardless of the scale of the project or the team working on it or the financial implications of the project.
They are tools. Tools for making things. They enable both faceless corporations who want to make filthy lucre by shipping boring line-of-business apps and individuals who want to "expand human potential" or "instill a sense of wonderment and discovery".
Reliability and robustness are very fundamental aspects to all software, no matter how it's built. And tools such as automated builds combined with unit and integration tests have proven to be immensely powerful in facilitating the creation of reliable software.
If your point is that non-commercial software need not take advantage of testing or productivity tools because producing a finished product that runs reliably is unimportant if you are merely trying to "expand human potential" or what-have-you then I reject that premise entirely.
If you refuse to acknowledge that the tools of the trade in the corporate world represent a fundamentally important contribution to the act of programming then you are guilty of the same willful blindness that Bret Victor derides so heartily in his talk.
You now, in some sense those early visionaries were beaten by the disruptive innovators of their day.
I think the argument here is that 1000 little choices favoring incremental advantage in the short term add up to a sub-optimal long term, but I'm not so sure. I have a *NIX machine in my phone. Designers "threw it in there" as the easy path. And it works.
Just trying to show the Linux kernel as an inexpensive building block in this day and age. One that is used casually, in Raspbery Pi's, in virtualization, etc.
>> I'd list things such as development velocity and end-product reliability as being far more important.
Your main thesis is that software and computing should be optimized to ship products to consumers.
No, the main thesis is that should be optimized to solve problems and to try to adjust it as easily as it could..
>The main thesis of guys like Alan Kay is that we should strive to make software and computing that is optimized for expanding human potential.
we are, even with our current tools, now you have the opportunity to express yourself to a the world in this place, everything done with these limiting tools..., it's IMO the presentation about exploring if maybe there is a better approach...., quotes on maybe
>Come back to the light, fine sir!
All are lights... is just the adequate combination required... you don't put the ultra bright leds of your vehicle in your living room or viceversa ...
Your main thesis is that software and computing should be optimized to ship products to consumers.
The main thesis of guys like Alan Kay is that we should strive to make software and computing that is optimized for expanding human potential.
Deep down most of us got in to computing because it is a fantastic way to manipulate our world.
Bret Victor's talks instill a sense of wonderment and discovery, something that has often been brow-beaten out of most of us working stiffs. The talks make us feel like there is more to our profession than just commerce. And you know what? There is. And you've forgotten that to the point where you're actually rallying against it!
Come back to the light, fine sir!