Porting UNIX Applications to the Mac

[Educational Software]

Larry Tesler writes in article 164 at apple.UUCP

> In article <267 at uwmacc.UUCP> dubois at uwmacc.UUCP (Paul DuBois) writes:
> >Mac users (some of 'em, anyway) like to talk about modeless
> >operation, but let's not forget:  the mouse *IS* a mode.
> >Modelessness is a myth, propagated sometimes by people who should
> >know better.

> If I can figure out how to use vi, I'll reply.  I agree that modelessness
> is a technically vague term.  It could be argued that even a text editor
> like MacWrite has one mode, "obey-next-input mode".  But if a program has
> one mode, it has no mode changes, and thus we call it modeless.  It is
> also arguable that a font change command produces a mode, but so does a
> caps lock key; I call either a "shift", which, as modes go, is innocuous
> because the effect of forgetting which mode you are in is certainly less
> drastic than that of typing "23d Street" without first entering insert
> mode in vi.
> 
> Depending on how you choose to define "mode", the mouse could be called a
> mode, but then so could the "7" key on a typewriter.  A useful definition
> of mode is a state of a user interface that affects the interpretation of
> subsequent inputs without obvious indication.  It is possible on the Macintosh,
> using clover keys, to bring up a dialog box and thus enter a mode unknowingly.
> But it is exceedingly rare compared with systems like vi that overload the
> typing keys with functional meanings.
> 
> Let me add that, although I agree vi is an obnoxious editor, I do think it
> deals with the mode problem gracefully.  Bad keystrokes often beep, undo is
> always available for one command, and most vowels enter insert mode so it is
> difficult to type a word as a command.
> 
> Modelessness is not a myth.  Like "seamlessness" or "painlessness", it is an
> ideal that may rarely be attainable but is always worth approximating.  The
> alternative is surely inhumane computing.

I don't really know whether modelessness is a myth or not, (though I 
suspect it is a myth).

For example, the dialog boxes and file selection boxes and pull-down
menus and click-drag mouse functions are ALL modes.

The idea is, however, to keep the modes simple and small, so that
a user's options and how to get at them are obvious.

So, MacWrite has lots of little modes, and vi has two big modes.

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bill idsardi
educational software products

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