[Edu-sig] Tracing the Dynabook: A Dissertation

[Bert Freudenberg]

Am Jan 19, 2007 um 15:16  schrieb Arthur:

> Trying to peek below the surface, in the world of productivity, had  
> and
> has a very simple definition:
>
> Wastng Time.
>
> There are Computer Guys for that.
>
> So things lead me to the world of the Computer Guys.  And I sometimes
> get the impression that is just how they like things to be, and want
> things to remain.

Then I do not understand at all why you are picking on Kay and  
Smalltalk/Squeak/Etoys. Peeking under the hood is *precisely* what  
this is about. In Squeak, you can inspect *every* UI object with a  
built-in, always-available tool, the "halo". Two clicks later, you're  
at the code, and if you know what you're doing, you can change every  
last bit of it, taking effect immediatelty. Now try that in about any  
other GUI - find the code that's behind *this* button and change it.  
Good luck.

Btw, I hope that we might get a bit closer to this on the OLPC UI -  
at least it is running in Python, you have that "view source" key on  
the keyboard, so the necessary ingredients are there. It's just hard  
to get people to even *imagine* that something this powerful is  
actually doable.

- Bert -