Comment Re:Bunk. (Score 1) 248
It depends on how you're using it.
Commands are somewhat obsolete, because they put the verb first, then the object.
GUI interfaces put the object first, when you click on the file, and the verb second, when you drag the icon or right click and specify a verb to apply.
The latter is more "object oriented" because your selection of verbs is restricted to the type of file. This style is more restrictive to the user, but less error prone, and leads to fewer possible actions.
The next type of interface is like a video game, where you're the object, and the environment operates on you. Clippy is like this.
The issue then becomes inferring possible actions based on what you're doing. The programmer tries to parse the user's input into the mouse and keyboard, and offer up possible paths.
Though this sounds very difficult, it's not always difficult. If the user has chosen to use a "wizard" the severely restricts context, the programmer can easily guess what the user wants to do next, because there isn't much to do: it's usually "Next>>", eventually "Finish", sometimes "Cancel", and sometimes "Back".
Somewhere between Clippy and the Wizard is a context where the user has some freedom, but, is still in a pretty restricted context, so the computer can do "smart" things for the user.
There's room for all these different kinds of interaction. One doesn't replace any other.
Commands are somewhat obsolete, because they put the verb first, then the object.
GUI interfaces put the object first, when you click on the file, and the verb second, when you drag the icon or right click and specify a verb to apply.
The latter is more "object oriented" because your selection of verbs is restricted to the type of file. This style is more restrictive to the user, but less error prone, and leads to fewer possible actions.
The next type of interface is like a video game, where you're the object, and the environment operates on you. Clippy is like this.
The issue then becomes inferring possible actions based on what you're doing. The programmer tries to parse the user's input into the mouse and keyboard, and offer up possible paths.
Though this sounds very difficult, it's not always difficult. If the user has chosen to use a "wizard" the severely restricts context, the programmer can easily guess what the user wants to do next, because there isn't much to do: it's usually "Next>>", eventually "Finish", sometimes "Cancel", and sometimes "Back".
Somewhere between Clippy and the Wizard is a context where the user has some freedom, but, is still in a pretty restricted context, so the computer can do "smart" things for the user.
There's room for all these different kinds of interaction. One doesn't replace any other.
