This is a bit like saying CSS is too much code and it needs paintbrush tools and palette picker dialog boxes like Photoshop. GUIs can be useful but they are also a limitation and with code you could really go anywhere and do previously unheard of things.
In general, thanks for the feedback, I appreciate. But to respond to your points:
1) Perhaps you were watching it at low resolution? It's at a bigger font than Xcode's standard.
2&4) It wasn't necessarily meant to be a self-contained video. AudioKit has an extensive website with documentation at http://audiokit.io/ and specifically for playgrounds at http://audiokit.io/playgrounds/
Just to balance out the feedback. 1) That font was plenty large. I don't see how it could have reasonably been larger without being comical. 2) It seemed kind of self-evident what a playground was. 3) Your voice was plenty loud. I don't know what he was referring to re: mumbling. 4) Not sure what he's looking for there.
In short, I think the video was incredible. I wouldn't change a thing. Thanks for sharing, and don't dwell too much on one user's feedback :)
> 1) Perhaps you were watching it at low
resolution? It's at a bigger font than
Xcode's standard.
My screen is a razor sharp 14" monitor
with 1024 x 768 pixels. Resolution is not
the issue, just size. All the text on
the screen used for the demo is just
a total blur -- I can't make out even
a single character. I'm a long time,
full-time computer user, and that text
was by far the worst I ever saw
that was intended to be read.
2)-4). Your video doesn't have to be
"self contained". Instead, just say
in broad terms what you are talking about.
I've never heard of AudioKit before, nor
should I have. I have no idea at all
what the purpose of AudioKit is, nor should
I. I have no idea if there is a Web site
for AudioKit or if it has tutorial material,
nor should I. If all such things are true,
then make that clear.
E.g., could I get the orchestral
score to the R. Strauss
Einheldenleben and use AudioKit to
do a good synthetic orchestral
performance? The score to the
Bach Chaconne? The Bach
solo violin version? The Busoni
piano version? Say enough to make
answers to such questions clear.
3) Ohio. Ohio should be fine. My
mother was from Columbus, grew up
just south of the OSU campus.
I was a prof in the B-school there.
My father went to Ohio State,
BA and MA. My
wife was from not far away,
about 50 miles SW of Fort Wayne,
IN. It's not about Ohio.
Instead, just do what I said:
Don't drop your voice at certain
words or at the ends of sentences.
When you say a word, go ahead and
actually pronounce it. Your Ohio
version of English speaking is fine;
just use it. As it is, mostly I
couldn't understand what you were
saying, totally lost maybe 1/3rd of
your words and more of your content.
Since I couldn't read your screen
text and couldn't understand your
speech, I gave up, and I'm someone
really interested in music, really
interested.
You may have some good work. If so,
then good. In that case, speak up,
describe your work, show clear
screen images.
BTW, I have no idea, none at all, zip,
zilch, zero, nichts, nil, nada,
what the heck "Xcode" is. None.
I doubt that Xcode is in Webster's.
So, Xcode is undefined jargon. I
know quite a lot about both music
and computing, but I don't know what
Xcode is, and likely I should not.
Lesson: If you want to communicate,
don't use undefined jargon.
Computing: I've published peer-reviewed
original research in artificial intelligence
from the IBM Watson lab. I've taught
computing at both Georgetown U. and
Ohio State U. At Ohio State, I
was a leader in computing in the
B-school and more generally on campus.
I've programmed significant software
for decades. My Ph.D. dissertation
was heavily based on software that I wrote.
I recently finished
typing in software for a Web site
with 4 back-end servers, 80,000 lines
of typing, about 18,000
programming language statements,
for Windows with the Microsoft
software .NET, ASP.NET, and ADO.NET
and for the Microsoft calls for
TCP/IP, etc. Still I never heard
of Xcode. Fonts? I'm quite good
at D. Knuth's TeX, still have never
heard of Xcode.
I'm not attacking you. Instead
I'm giving you constructive
feedback so that you can
communicate better about your
possibly quite good work so
that many more people can
like your work.
Possibly one of the rudest comments i've read on HN for sometime.
The text was completely readable for me, viewing on an iPad (not even fullscreen).
Xcode is the standard IDE used for all Apple software development - 99% of people viewing a video like this would know that, as its so elementary. I'm surprised you didnt also expect the author to define what a terminal window was and what Objective C is. A google search would have yielded the answer in less than 2 seconds.
Overall I found the video very intersting and its the first time i've seen audio being iteratively produced in real time with code, thanks for taking the time to produce it.
> Xcode is the standard IDE used for all Apple software development - 99% of people viewing a video like this would know that, as its so elementary.
Not for people on Windows. So,
your claim is that 99% of the
people on HN have significant Apple
software development experience?
Can't believe that.
Besides the demo screen didn't look like
it was from just a console session
and not an IDE. So, if no IDE was involved,
then what could have been the role
of an IDE font Xcode?
> The text was completely
readable for me, viewing
on an iPad (not even fullscreen).
For me, full screen, 1024 x 768 pixels
on a razor sharp monitor, without
a magnifying glass, essentially just
blurs. Just checked: If I capture
the screen, pull the capture into
PhotoDraw, and magnify by 400%, then
it is nicely readable.
For the audio, here is what I hear from
the first of the video clip:
??? one.
My name is Art ??? I am the creator
of Audio???.
Today I'm excited to show you another
example of ??? AudioKit live coding
playground.
I have been presenting AudioKit at
??? universities and I ??? example
He can speak plenty clearly enough, but
in places he just drops his voice
volume. E.g., for what I heard in
"Audio???" it might have been
AudioHit, AudioKit, AudioSit,
AudioIt, or something else.
He just dropped his voice
on the last sylable of AudioKit.
For his last name, he again dropped
his voice.
"Live coding playground" is clear
enough, apparently from
"another" there is a prerequisite
of earlier examples? And,
really, there should be
something like:
"The software AudioKit
permits finely grained interactive
usage with what we call
the AudioKit live coding Playground,
and we will demonstrate that here."
Okay, that's good.
Then to the computer screen, we're
supposed to know that that is
on Linux or Apple? We're supposed
just to assume that? Observe that?
Not good. Instead, just say
what the computing platform is.
Your first comments were not rude and I've responded to them but I don't appreciate the personal attacks, and you've gone off on unprovoked tangents. Everyone, just walk away.
Xcode is Apple's development suite. HN is a site largely populated by technology enthusiasts. We don't all have the same interests, skills, background, or vocabulary, but I think it's acceptable to assume that a reasonably sized subset of the group will understand the message and that those who don't will either choose to run a web search or simply move on. There are many submissions to HN that presuppose a certain level of familiarity with a given topic and we all seem to manage.
Microsoft is an important computer
company. I use Microsoft products.
To save my time getting background
information, I just stay with
Microsoft's products.
Why just Microsoft? Because
for what I'm doing, it's enough,
and I don't see anything else
clearly better.
My computer usage and software
development are on Windows.
My development is for a Web
site where the site runs on
Windows. My Web site sends to
users just very standard HTTP,
HTML, and CSS; so users
need only a Web browser up to
date as of, say, five, maybe
10, years ago.
Each of my
Web pages is just 800 pixels
wide, with large fonts and high
contrast, and should look good
on any device with a screen
with 800 pixels of width.
The Web pages have both vertical
and horizontal scroll bars
so that, really, the pages
should be usable on any device
with 300 pixels of width and
even fewer pixels of height.
Net, my users might be
using Linux and/or Apple
products -- fine with me,
but I don't have to be
using Linux or Apple products
and so far am not.
I have no Apple products.
I've never used any Apple products.
I've never used Linux or Unix.
Why? My project just doesn't need
Apple products. Or Linux.
That experience with Unix, Linux,
or Apple is a prerequisite for
being an expert in computing,
which I am, is absurd.
Yes, maybe generally HN is
strongly in favor
of Apple and Linux and, basically,
hates Microsoft.
I had to select a computing platform,
and the main two choices were
Linux, maybe on Apple products,
and Microsoft. I selected Microsoft.
For the hardware, I got some
parts, motherboard, processor,
fans, disk drives, CD/DVD
burners, diskette drive
(still used a few times),
power supply,
case, monitor, keyboard,
lots of cables, lots of
little screws, etc.,
a B/W laser printer connected
via USB, gigabit Ethernet,
etc. Wired a cable to drive
my old daisy wheel printer
(still really good
for addressing envelopes)
via a 9-pin serial port.
That hardware has been fine.
I've stayed
with Microsoft; that's not a bad
decision.
Linux and Apple? So far I don't
need them and, thus, don't want
to allocate time, money, and effort
to use them.
Your implication that Linux and Apple
are standard prerequisites for HN
is rude, insulting, and absurd.
Xcode -- garbage if not defined.
And I shouldn't need Google to read
HN.
Lesson: Once again, over again,
one more time, time n + 1 for
a very large n, clearly, simply,
don't do it; never do it;
give up on it;
having in group jargon,
essentially deliberately undefined, is
garbage behavior;
trying to put off people
outside the in group is
very bad behavior for everyone;
IBM used to do that and it really
cost them; in group jargon
is a really big, bad, bummer;
being inclusive is much better,
and now even Microsoft knows this;
liking undefined in group jargon
is really bad stuff;
undefined acronyms are really bad
stuff; don't do it; simple
lesson; got it now? Don't do it;
don't excuse it;
don't put up with it.
I'm not against Apple or Linux;
it's just that, given that I do
work on Windows,
I don't need Apple or Linux
and, thus, get to save on
time, money, and energy that would
be needed to use them. And, Objective-C?
Don't need it. Python? Don't need it.
PHP, Ruby, Rails, Django,
Scheme, Lisp,
assembler, C, C++,
model-view-controller,
Java, JavaScript,
JQuery, node.js -- don't need them
because they add little or
nothing to what I already have
on Windows.
E.g., Microsoft's ASP.NET
writes a little JavaScript
for me, but so far I have
not written or even read
a single line of it. Don't need it.
Pop-ups, pull-downs, roll-overs?
Don't like them; don't need them;
don't use them. JavaScript for
asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX),
don't need it or use it.
A point: I'm not a professional
programmer. It's been a long time
since I wrote code for other people.
Now I'm an entrepreneur doing a startup.
For my startup, I write all the
code, and I'm writing that code on
Windows. I've written some quite
significant code.
But it is important for me
to save my time, money, and effort
and, thus, try hard not to buy,
that is, invest time, money, and effort in,
tools that
I don't really need.
So, so far I get to ignore
Linux, Apple, PHP, ... Java, etc.
Simple: I like music, was interested
in the OP, had never heard of AudioKit,
and have never used Unix, Linux, or
any Apple products.
I understand computing, violin,
tuning in music, Fourier series,
Nyquist sampling in digital signal
processing, saw some music performance
software decades ago, am interested
in software for composing and performing
music, needed an overview of AudioKit,
and thought that the OP would have been
helped by an overview.
For too much of the audio voice, I
couldn't make out the words -- the
speaker just needed to speak up,
speak clearly, and not drop his
voice.
For me to read the
screen, I needed another 400%
of magnification.
I wanted
explanations of terminology
such as playground -- sounds
good, but in what sense do we
have a metaphor of a real playground?
So, I suggested such revisions.
My suggestions should have been
constructive.
As it was, I gave up on the OP --
I'm really interested in the
subject (on violin, I actually made it
through a lot of the
Bach Chaconne, especially
the D major section -- no way
to do that without being really
interested in music) yet gave up
on the OP as something with
text I couldn't read and
audio I couldn't understand.
So, maybe the OP has some problems?
But then I got voted down and
criticized. Then I defended myself.
It's all very simple.
So, some people on HN just assume
that of course anyone on HN is
a LInux/Apple user -- of course.
Maybe they are also a Windows
user, but necessarily they are
a Linux/Apple user. Of course.
Impossible to understand otherwise.
Well, that assumption is wrong
and absurd. It's also "arrogant",
intolerant, and, really, uninformed
and ignorant. I just defended myself.
Linux/Apple are not the only good
paths into computing now. There
is also Windows. It happens that
I'm a Windows user. Gee, if I'm
wrong, then get PG or Sam to
change HN to Linux/Apple/Android
HN.
Right: With some of the audience
at HN, I don't fit in. For that audience,
I'm not
sure I or anyone should want to fit in.
Your first comments were not rude and I've responded to them but I don't appreciate the personal attacks, and you've gone off on unprovoked tangents. Everyone, just walk away.
