Asri-unix.1285
net.works
utzoo!decvax!cca!WITTMAN@RU-GREEN@sri-unix
Thu Apr 22 09:11:24 1982
WorkS
(Must be your day to get mail from me, Mel.. Hope I'm not being TOO tedious)



Mel,

I'm  not  part  of the WorkS group but wanted to say a few words; see if
they're worth passing along.


                              **********


I've been reading the WorkS list for my daily entertainment, and find it
fascinating and enlightening.  (Thanks).  What  moves  me  to  write  is
reference  to  a  "language  &  mind  set"  theory  regarding  languages
(attributed to Whorf).

An  issue  of  "Science  81"  contained  an  article   about   Language,
maintaining  that  research  had  demonstrated  that  people whose first
language was Japanese performed certain processing on one  side  of  the
brain  whereas all others performed those tasks on the other side of the
brain and implied that  Language  may  indeed  impose  on  the  PHYSICAL
structure  of  the  brain.    If  this  is  true,  there are frightening
prospects for creating languages  which  will  eliminate  the  need  for
genetic  engineering in some sense, but that really isn't the point; the
question is how much relevance might  this  have  to  "first  programing
language"  (an  influence  which  may  grow worse as younger and younger
children are exposed to primitive programing languages).

I don't know what Genius is, but perhaps it's the ability to rise  above
environment.    I  don't claim to be up to the intellectual power of the
WorkS list personnel, but I'm supposed to be fairly intelligent;  and  I
find  it difficult to change environments; even when the new environment
has some VERY nice features, I find an immense number  of  things  I  no
longer  know  how to do, and have a feeling I'm not using the new system
as it was intended (until I really ABSORB it which takes a  long  time).
(As  an example, I once tried to write a program in APL with very little
exposure; it looked like FORTRAN.  I also know some very  bright  people
who  STILL  express  certain concepts in 709x assembler.  And apparently
the "A, B language order tests" indicate my difficulty shifting gears is
not due exclusively to my own intellectual shortcomings).

What I expected to see in the WorkS discussion were abstract discussions
of what a WorkStation was.  What I have seen are:


  1. Occasional  irrelevancies  (eg,  the  Header  gripes,   which
     detract from the information content)

  2. Semi-relevancies (eg, discussion of a particular Micro, OS or
     communications system, which aren't really relevant but which
     I find rather educational)

  3. Advertisements  and  criticisms  of  various  extant  systems
     (probably part of the above item; also very interesting,  but
                                  2

     perhaps not germane)

  4. A  little  theory now and then (which I thought was what this
     group was all about).  (And I don't know  if  Whorf  fits  in
     this category or not).


I  would  frankly  lose  a lot if Items 2 and 3 above disappeared, but I
wonder if they should be such a focus.  At Rutgers, our CS program  uses
languages  as  illustrative  lab  tools  to  practice general principles
taught in class, but rarely focuses on the language itself.  I wonder if
WorkS mightn't be more satisfying to some of  its  participants  if  the
products  cited  were  used  only as examples to illustrate some general
principle of what a WorkStation should be.

The intellectual Power of this group (which I don't claim to be  up  to)
is  likely  to  be  one of the few places one might find a collection of
"genius" which can rise above  "what  is"  and  talk  more  about  "what
ought".   I've seen a lot of (kind of hidden) complaints about that, and
I wonder if it's not part of the "language" problem; also, we  can  only
criticize  or laud what we know - some members may not have been exposed
to Everything (there's so MUCH of it) and are trapped into advocating  a
buzzword (eg, UNIX) instead of a concept (performing function FERN, in a
UNIX-like way).

I  think  the  pragmatic advice transmitted about what systems exist and
what they do is invaluable to people who actually have to choose systems
to work with (probably all  of  us),  but  I  hear  an  undercurrent  of
discontent,  so I've taken a selfish position:  I want to continue to be
amused (highest sense:  entertained and enlightened) by this Digest, and
don't want to see anyone get discouraged and go away.

By the way, all I know about a WorkStation is that it appears  to  be  a
semi-private  or  private  mini-environment  tailored  to  getting  your
particular tasks done.

Thanks, People.  Sorry for the intrusion.

Barry Wittman (Spectator)


                          * * * * * * * * *


Thanks, Mel.  I'm glad you're now the moderator (you're so  helpful  and
accessible).

Barry
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