[Edu-sig] interesting article about the future of user platforms

[Laura Creighton]

Thank you very much for the kind words.

If you haven're read Tufte, you will likely enjoy reading him.  I also
recommend the lesser known _The Theory and Aesthetic of Design_ and 
_The Theory and Art of Workmanship_, both by David Pye.  David Pye was
an architect and a professor of furniture design, as well as a wood
worker.  So his books are for anybody who has ever designed _anything_
and who has built anything.  While  Chris Alexander's Pattern Language
for architects has had an effect on software development, directly
influencing Design Patterns, David Pye is still virtually unknown.  I
think that this is very sad, because the book on workmanship in particular
I think is vital to understanding what it is that we are doing.

I think that these days it is fashionable to believe that the 'good things'
we see in the created world are good because they were _designed_ well.
And they may well have been.  But what was crucial, often, was not the
design but the workmanship.  I see things like the XP and agile movement
as significant attempts to improve the quality of the workmanship in our
profession.  If you get the chance, read David Pye, and see what you
think.

By the way, I am most heartily impressed with the amount of work you have
accomplished on the python-advocacy front.  Those of us who have fought the
monsters of 'we like things just the way they are' in the Python
community have accumulated an impressive list of burn-outs.  But looks
like you fought the fight -- and won.  Some day I would like it if
you taught me _how_ you managed it.  Like all good magicians, you make
it look effortless, when I know it is anything but.

You take care,
Laura Creighton