"Cut and Paste" Programming
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Can we at least agree that "wysiwyg" and "18pt bold" are different issues that should be orthogonal to each other? That you can have one without the other, and vice versa?
Nope. You were one of those people who drove down the 696 in the left lane doing 55 MPH, weren't you?
Dave Kreskowiak Microsoft MVP - Visual Basic
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Can we at least agree that "wysiwyg" and "18pt bold" are different issues that should be orthogonal to each other? That you can have one without the other, and vice versa?
The Grand Negus wrote:
Can we at least agree that "wysiwyg" and "18pt bold" are different issues that should be orthogonal to each other?
Should be...
The Grand Negus wrote:
That you can have one without the other, and vice versa?
Can you?! You should tell that to some of the people I work with! (Although with them they like to add in a nice cursive font too - I dread to think what my company's customers think)
Upcoming events: * Glasgow Geek Dinner (5th March) * Glasgow: Tell us what you want to see in 2007 My: Website | Blog | Photos
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In the suggestion box, a guy (not me) complained that the preview window in the message editor wasn't working properly. As you may know, I've recommended wysiwyg editing all along because it doesn't require a preview window. Now consider Chris' reply:
Chris Maunder wrote:
The other option is move to a WYSIWYG editor but I just worry so much about HTML grafiti already. Giving people the ability to make their posts have 18pt bright yellow font at the click of a button just seems to be asking for trouble...
Now here's the point. What does "moving to a wysiwyg editor" have to do with "18pt bright yellow fonts"? Since the developer here sees that a wysiwyg editor would solve the preview problem, but doesn't want outrageous font colors and sizes, why doesn't he simply implement a wysiwyg editor with only those features he wishes to give his users - say, bold and italic, but not color and size? The answer is that the developer in question - and most of the rest of us - are no longer developers at all. We don't decide exactly what we want and then code exactly that; instead, we try to piece together something close to what we have in mind using various components that don't quite do what we want them to do. Not only is this method of development less fun than true creative programming, but it results in lower-quality products. We need to get out of the help file and back into real programming using small but powerful languages that can be mastered and employed to do exactly what we want them to do. Can I get an "amen"?
The Grand Negus wrote:
Since the developer here sees that a wysiwyg editor would solve the preview problem, but doesn't want outrageous font colors and sizes, why doesn't he simply implement a wysiwyg editor with only those features he wishes to give his users - say, bold and italic, but not color and size?
:laugh: Yeah, Chris tell us, why don't you simply implement all CP features you wish to have? :rolleyes:
"Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. " - Morpheus
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The Grand Negus wrote:
Since the developer here sees that a wysiwyg editor would solve the preview problem, but doesn't want outrageous font colors and sizes, why doesn't he simply implement a wysiwyg editor with only those features he wishes to give his users - say, bold and italic, but not color and size?
:laugh: Yeah, Chris tell us, why don't you simply implement all CP features you wish to have? :rolleyes:
"Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. " - Morpheus
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I know, I know... I just have more funny things to do now - and weekend is just too short. :( Playing with my web site (not online yet) and playing this[^] game takes so much time away :wtf: edit: plus, its 4AM and Nuggets are playing vs Bucks.
"Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. " - Morpheus
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I know, I know... I just have more funny things to do now - and weekend is just too short. :( Playing with my web site (not online yet) and playing this[^] game takes so much time away :wtf: edit: plus, its 4AM and Nuggets are playing vs Bucks.
"Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. " - Morpheus
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In the suggestion box, a guy (not me) complained that the preview window in the message editor wasn't working properly. As you may know, I've recommended wysiwyg editing all along because it doesn't require a preview window. Now consider Chris' reply:
Chris Maunder wrote:
The other option is move to a WYSIWYG editor but I just worry so much about HTML grafiti already. Giving people the ability to make their posts have 18pt bright yellow font at the click of a button just seems to be asking for trouble...
Now here's the point. What does "moving to a wysiwyg editor" have to do with "18pt bright yellow fonts"? Since the developer here sees that a wysiwyg editor would solve the preview problem, but doesn't want outrageous font colors and sizes, why doesn't he simply implement a wysiwyg editor with only those features he wishes to give his users - say, bold and italic, but not color and size? The answer is that the developer in question - and most of the rest of us - are no longer developers at all. We don't decide exactly what we want and then code exactly that; instead, we try to piece together something close to what we have in mind using various components that don't quite do what we want them to do. Not only is this method of development less fun than true creative programming, but it results in lower-quality products. We need to get out of the help file and back into real programming using small but powerful languages that can be mastered and employed to do exactly what we want them to do. Can I get an "amen"?
Yes I agree in this instance, but a lot of the time to reach certain proficiency you need to make do with other peoples code.... I know this is not an Ideal but unfortunately we don't have much of a choice.
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
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Yes I agree in this instance, but a lot of the time to reach certain proficiency you need to make do with other peoples code.... I know this is not an Ideal but unfortunately we don't have much of a choice.
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
Bradml wrote:
Yes I agree in this instance, but a lot of the time to reach certain proficiency you need to make do with other peoples code
I agree that everybody can't write everything from scratch. But shouldn't the "other people's code" in something as huge as Visual Studio, as current as .NET, and as mature as Windows include - somewhere - a drop-in wysiwyg edit control with selectable features?
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Bradml wrote:
Yes I agree in this instance, but a lot of the time to reach certain proficiency you need to make do with other peoples code
I agree that everybody can't write everything from scratch. But shouldn't the "other people's code" in something as huge as Visual Studio, as current as .NET, and as mature as Windows include - somewhere - a drop-in wysiwyg edit control with selectable features?
Yes, Browsers themselves should have native support for WYSIWYG and it should be part of the w3c standard. Unfortunately the W3c is completely incompetent and so we have more chance of growing plants in our ears then seeing that happen.
What is wrong with WYSIWYG?
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Bradml wrote:
Yes I agree in this instance, but a lot of the time to reach certain proficiency you need to make do with other peoples code
I agree that everybody can't write everything from scratch. But shouldn't the "other people's code" in something as huge as Visual Studio, as current as .NET, and as mature as Windows include - somewhere - a drop-in wysiwyg edit control with selectable features?
It does. You left out one requirement - it has to be a web control, and it has to work for all current browsers. That's a different beast entirely, one that has nothing to do with windows, and little to do with Visual Studio.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog
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It does. You left out one requirement - it has to be a web control, and it has to work for all current browsers. That's a different beast entirely, one that has nothing to do with windows, and little to do with Visual Studio.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog
Well from what I understand it is easy to get confused with Web and Windows development thanks to ASP.net. I still think that a standard browser control is the only way to go.
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
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It does. You left out one requirement - it has to be a web control, and it has to work for all current browsers. That's a different beast entirely, one that has nothing to do with windows, and little to do with Visual Studio.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog
Christian Graus wrote:
You left out one requirement - it has to be a web control, and it has to work for all current browsers.
Add whatever requirements you like. The thing should still be within the reach of a huge corporation like Microsoft and/or a programming community with nearly four million members. My point - and I just made it again - is that there is something seriously wrong with the industry.
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Christian Graus wrote:
You left out one requirement - it has to be a web control, and it has to work for all current browsers.
Add whatever requirements you like. The thing should still be within the reach of a huge corporation like Microsoft and/or a programming community with nearly four million members. My point - and I just made it again - is that there is something seriously wrong with the industry.
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Bradml wrote:
Ok how do you plan to fix it?
By starting here[^]. And working at it for the next thirty years. We can't, of course, fix everything for everyone. Good government may bring prosperity to a local community, but the rest of the world will go on; better doctrine may draw some to John Calvin's Geneva, but the Roman Catholic Church will not cease to exist. Still, it's better to light a candle than (merely) curse the darkness...
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Bradml wrote:
Ok how do you plan to fix it?
By starting here[^]. And working at it for the next thirty years. We can't, of course, fix everything for everyone. Good government may bring prosperity to a local community, but the rest of the world will go on; better doctrine may draw some to John Calvin's Geneva, but the Roman Catholic Church will not cease to exist. Still, it's better to light a candle than (merely) curse the darkness...
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That does not help web based incompetance.
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
Bradml wrote:
That does not help web based incompetance.
But it does. Have you forgotten already yesterday's post? I reiterate: When the time comes, we will introduce an "Alternet"(tm) over which computers of the PAL 3000 variety - and only those computers - may communicate. Our "Alternet"(tm) will, of course, be much smaller at first, and may never rival the original Internet in size or diversity; but that's not the point. It will be simpler, cleaner, and large enough to be useful, and that's enough for us. The web as it is - like the Roman Catholic Church in the days of Luther and Calvin - is beyond repair. Something new, something else is required. As Gene Amdahl couldn't fix IBM, neither can we fix the Intel/Microsoft kluge - or the HTML/XHTML/XML/JAVA/etc internet kluge. But that doesn't mean we can't, like the doctors above, do something for somebody. In fact, we've done a great deal, already, for ourselves. Every program I've written in the last six or seven years, for example, has been written using languages, editors, and compilers that we have developed; every paper, essay, and book that I have written during this period has been written using our own word processors and page-layout programs; every architectural drawing I have produced has been produced using our own drawing facilities; and all of our records, including detailed accounting for millions of dollars' worth of transactions, are kept using our own proprietary software. There's no Visual Studio or Microsoft Office on any of our machines - we simply don't need them to get our work done.
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Well from what I understand it is easy to get confused with Web and Windows development thanks to ASP.net. I still think that a standard browser control is the only way to go.
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
TRuth is, there are too many people jumping in at the deep end who can't swim, and so a lot of people do get confused about where their C# code is run, and what the end result is (i.e. HTML )
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog
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Christian Graus wrote:
You left out one requirement - it has to be a web control, and it has to work for all current browsers.
Add whatever requirements you like. The thing should still be within the reach of a huge corporation like Microsoft and/or a programming community with nearly four million members. My point - and I just made it again - is that there is something seriously wrong with the industry.
Your point is that you have an agenda. Until PE lets me say 'I want a HTML editor with these features...', your point is moot. PE today is just another Visual Basic. And, it's fundamentally flawed. Naturally, MS can write the control you're describing, but does that mean it's worth their while to do so ? Anything CAN be written, the fact that what DOES get written is a subset of that, is called 'reality' and doesn't point to any problem that I can see.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog
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Your point is that you have an agenda. Until PE lets me say 'I want a HTML editor with these features...', your point is moot. PE today is just another Visual Basic. And, it's fundamentally flawed. Naturally, MS can write the control you're describing, but does that mean it's worth their while to do so ? Anything CAN be written, the fact that what DOES get written is a subset of that, is called 'reality' and doesn't point to any problem that I can see.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog
Christian Graus wrote:
the fact that what DOES get written is a subset of that, is called 'reality' and doesn't point to any problem that I can see.
So you can't see that a broken preview window - when having the appropriate control available would have eliminated the need for a preview window altogether - is a problem? Curious...
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Your point is that you have an agenda. Until PE lets me say 'I want a HTML editor with these features...', your point is moot. PE today is just another Visual Basic. And, it's fundamentally flawed. Naturally, MS can write the control you're describing, but does that mean it's worth their while to do so ? Anything CAN be written, the fact that what DOES get written is a subset of that, is called 'reality' and doesn't point to any problem that I can see.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog
Christian Graus wrote:
Until PE lets me say 'I want a HTML editor with these features...', your point is moot.
You're logic here is flawed. My wife, for example, can't execute a command as simple as, "Change the oil in the car, Honey." But to say that puts her understanding of the English language on a level with Visual Basic is simply not true.
Christian Graus wrote:
PE today is just another Visual Basic.
Wrong again. There is a clear and unobstructed path from Plain English as it stands today to the "apparently intelligent"(tm) PAL 3000 of tomorrow; this is not the case with Visual Basic. When Rex gets around to writing the article he's proposed, the significant differences will (or should) become clear to you. And even if this were not the case, Plain English is significantly more elegant, efficient, and easier to learn and use than Visual Basic. Visual Basic is a kluge; our language and development system is a well-tempered work of art and science. We resent the comparison.