2019 tweets

Jan 8, 2019

Jan 16, 2019

scrapbooking

(refs) worrydream.com/refs/Kay_1972…
worrydream.com/refs/Kay_1977…
worrydream.com/EarlyHistoryOfSmalltalk
archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1981-08…

Jan 23, 2019

more scrapbooking

(refs) https://archive.org/details/Apple-1_Operation_Manual_1976…
archive.org/details/a2_the_DOS_Manual…
archive.org/details/Apple_II_Prodos_Users_Manual…
maccaps.com/MacCaps/DIY_Information_files/Macintosh_Manual_1984.pdf

1977
APPLE-1 OPERATION MANUAL
Introduction: The Apple Computer is a complete microprocessor system, consisting of a Mos Technology 6502 microprocessor and support hardware, integral video display electronics, dynamic memory and refresh hardware, and fully regulated power supplies. It contains resident system monitor software, enabling the user, via the keyboard and display, to write, examine, debug, and run programs efficiently; thus being an educational tool for the learning of microprocessor programming, and an aid in the development of software.

1980
Apple II: The DOS Manual
Background: Learning to use the disk and its operating system consists of learning a few special instructions, several of which are straightforward extensions of familiar BASIC instructions. This manual assumes that you're familiar with the Apple II, and feel confortable writing simple BASIC programs. To learn how to use the Apple II and Integer BASIC, consult the Apple IL BASIC Programming Manual (Apple Product fA21.0005X). To learn how to use Applesoft BASIC, consult the Applesoft II BASIC Programming Reference Manual (Apple Product #A2L0006). The Applesoft manual assumes you're already familiar with the Apple II and simple BASIC programming. If you're not familiar with either nanual, we will wait here while you learn about the Apple II, before going on to learn about DOS.

1983
Apple // ProDOS User's Manual
Applesoft BASIC: Selecting the Applesoft BASIC option puts you into BASIC. Unless you are familiar with programming, you probably won't be selecting this option. However, if you do, and want to get back to the User's Disk Main Menu, type RUN STARTUP.

1984
Macintosh
Introduction: You're about to learn a new way to use a computer. If this is your first experience with a computer, you're starting at a great time. If you've used “traditional” computers, you'll really appreciate the Macintosh difference. No more guessing what the computer wants. No more memorizing long commands with names only a programmer could love. With Macintosh, you're in charge.
This chapter teaches what you need to know to use your Macintosh-how to create documents (the name for anything you create on Macintosh), make changes to them, and put them away. It all happens with a few basic techniques, the same techniques you'll use whenever you work with anyapplication on your Macintosh.
Starting Your Own Work: You probably have some work you want to use your Macintosh for. If you'd like to know a bit more about Macintosh before you start using an application, read Chapter 2. Then read the manual that came with the application you want to use. When you want some reminders or more information about using the Finder to organize your work, come back to Chapter 3 of this manual — “Using the Finder.” Enjoy!

Feb 14, 2019

spotted a xerox alto in its natural habitat

Feb 14, 2019

[ref]

@ctbeiser: the line between "fun puzzle game with programming elements" and "literally my job" gets thinner every year

@stephtwang: Not sure if I follow. Is it that good/performant Computer Systems will have killed the puzzle aspects in programming, and that it remains a puzzle is a sign we're screwing up? I also sense that, computers aren't well oiled enough to remove the value in a challenge is a good thing

Feb 14, 2019

@stephtwang my interpretation is something like: shenzhen i/o is fun/challenging/funny because you're solving trivial tasks using inadequate representations (e.g. asm). For work that "actually matters", the better strategy may be to seek better representations rather than cope with puzzle-solving

Feb 14, 2019

@stephtwang at least, hutchins is claiming that the cognitive evolution of culture proceeds in this way (by re-encoding tasks in better representations rather than continuing to puzzle through them). Evolution is a slow gradual process, of course.

Feb 23, 2019

[1] [2]

Licklider, J
Libraries of the Future, by J. C. R. Licklider. Cambridge, Mass, M. I T. Press. 1965

Feb 26, 2019

babbage's analytical engine comes with two bells (archive.org/details/passagesfromlife03char… )

An excellent friend of mine, the late Professor MacCullagh, of Dublin, was discussing with me, at breakfast, the various powers of the Analytical Engine. After a long conversation on the subject, he inquired what the machine could do if, in the midst of algebraic operations, it was required to perform logarithmic or trigonometric operations.
My answer was, that whenever the Analytical Engine should exist, all the developments of formula would be directed by this condition-that the machine should be able to compute their numerical value in the shortest possible time. I then added that if this answer were not satisfactory. I had provided means by which, with equal accuracy, it might compute by logarithmic or other Tables.
I explained that the Tables to be used must, of course, be computed and punched on cards by the machine, in which case they would undoubtedly be correct. I then added that when the machine wanted a tabular number, say the logarithm of a given number, that it would ring a bell and then stop itself. On this, the attendant would look at a certain part of the machine, and find that it wanted the logarithm of a given number, say of 2303. The attendant would then go to the drawer containing the pasteboard cards representing its table of logarithms. From amongst these he would take the required logarithmic card, and place it in the machine. Upon this the engine would first ascertain whether the assistant had or had not given him the correct logarithm of the number; if so, it would use it and continue its work. But if the engine found the attendant had given him a wrong logarithm, it would then ring a louder bell, and stop itself. On the attendant again examining the engine, he would observe the words, “Wrong tabular number,” and then discover that he really had given the wrong logarithm, and of course he would have to replace it by the right one.

Mar 1, 2019

mprove.de/visionreality/mail/kay.html#Dec98

So, we'll know if we have the first Dynabook if we can make the end-user experience one of “reading and writing” about “powerful ideas” in a dynamic form, and to do this in such a way that large percentages of the bell-curve can learn how to do this. When Martin Luther was in jail and contemplating how to get the Bible directly to the “end-users” he first thought about what it would take to teach Latin to most Germans. Then he thought about the problems of translating the Bible to German. Both were difficult prospects: the latter because Germany was a collection of provinces with regional dialects, and the dialects were mostly set up for village transactions and court intrigues. Interestingly, Luther chose to “fix up” German by restructuring it to be able to handle philosophical and religious discourse. He reasoned that it would be easier to start with something that was somewhat familiar to Germans who could then be elevated, as opposed to starting with the very different and unfamiliar form of Latin. (Not the least consideration here is that Latin was seen as the language of those in power and with education, and would partly seem unattainable to many e.g. farmers, etc.)
I think Martin Luther was one of the earliest great User Interface designers -- because he understood that you have to do much more than provide function to get large numbers of people to get fluent. You should always try to start with where the end-users are and then help them grow and change.
So, the Dynabook problem is not just how to get the computer to simulate media -- especially those that only the computer can do -- but to have the “literature” of how this is specified *seem to be learnable* (and then, in fact, be learnable).

Mar 1, 2019

@nagle5000: from later in the email, do you know what "Tom Paine's argument against monarchy and for democracy by using stained glass windows!" refers to?

Mar 1, 2019

@nagle5000 it's a common Alan trope, referencing McLuhan (e.g. vpri.org/pdf/future_of_… )

Different representations for the “same idea” hold just parts of the idea, and condition the “reading” of the idea. For example, reading news in prose, poetry, and from a television set are very different experiences. Marshall McLuhan proclaimed that “You can argue about many things with stained glass windows, but Democracy is not one of them!” He meant both stained glass windows and television (our modern less beautiful equivalent).

Mar 2, 2019

[ref]

FLEX machine, 1968
Smalltalks, 1971-1979
NoteTaker, 1978
Vivarium, 1986-1993
Playground, 1988-1992
Squeak, 1996-
Etoys, 1997-
Croquet, 2003-2007
STEPS, 2006-2012
CDG/HARC, 2013-2017
Tutor, 2016-

(architecture machine group, ~1976)

No, if that money had needed to come from venture capitalists, the project never would have happened.

The launch of ARPANET didn't have the same dramatic impact as the Sputnik launch twelve years earlier. By the late sixties, American attention had shifted to transformational issues like the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Black Power. So, in late 1969, nobody-with the exception of a few unfashionable geeks in the military-industrial complex-cared much about two 900-pound computers miscommunicating with each other.
But the achievement of Bob Taylor and his engineering team cannot be underestimated. More than Sputnik and the wasteful space race, the successful building of ARPANET would change the world. It was one of the smartest million dollars ever invested. Had that money come from venture capitalists, it would have returned many billions of dollars to its original investors.

Apr 5, 2019

In his later life, Bob Taylor was once accused of rosy retrospection with regards to the research environment in the 60s and 70s. Bob thought for a couple minutes, and finally declared, "No, god dammit, it *was* a golden age."

Apr 12, 2019

stories and games (from worrydream.com/AlanKaySqueaklandPosts)

Squeak etoys are in the form of a scriptable multimedia environment, so what gets authored can range from presentations (such as in powerpoint), stories and games (such as in MS Word, Director and Flash), to mathematical and scientific simulations. Each of these can have a little (to a lot) of overlap with various kinds of educational goals (including good ones). This is rather like introducing a word processor into a classroom “plus plus”. That is, the authoring system needs to be really open-ended to deal with all of its genre (a word processor in which one could only write stories but not essays about important ideas would be a terrible use of technology). To continue the analogy, writing is much much more than just putting words down on paper, and having paper and pencils (or hightech word processors) is not much help if the teachers don't know what writing is and have some ideas about how to teach it.
Children don't know much about writing or math or science, but they o know a lot of stories and games, and a bit about stories and games, so they tend to plunge fearlessly into using a dynamic medium like Squeak etoys to make representations of stories and games of many different kinds. This simply follows previous observations of children with LogoWriter and Hypercard. There is nothing wrong with this, it's an easy way for them to learn the mechanics of using the system, and they can occasionally learn something beyond stories and games (e.g. a little about math) in the process. There is a part of NSF and the National Research Council that thinks this is worthwhile all by itself because learning to “do multimedia”, especially with scripting is thought to be an important part of “technological literacy”.

Human beings (even really smart ones) have a hard time coming up with ideas that are better than mediocre. For example, if you put a piano in a classroom, the children will explore it, and develop a “chopsticks culture” with it, but they won't invent for themselves how to play a keyboard instrument (it took centuries for experts to work it out). But every child can be taught to play the piano. Similarly, the children will not invent or discover important ideas in mathematics by themselves. But every child can be taught a powerful version of the calculus of vectors, and many other kinds of advanced mathematics. And both of these can be taught as a kind of play.
If you give children a medium to explore, they will generally wind up doing stories and games with it (in large part because that is how nature has set all of us up to learn when we are children). For example, Etoys is used widely in a number of places in the world. The places that emphasize “creativity”, “discovery learning”, “free exploration”, etc., all wind up with lots of stuff done by children, but virtually all of it uses simple animations and multiple tasking to act out stories and games. This is no surprise (it took humans 100,000 years to invent math and another 2000 to invent science). If we are interested in having children learn non-obvious powerful ideas -- e.g. in math and science -- we have to scaffold their learning and discovery by careful curriculum design.
This teaching doesn't have to feel like the kids are being put in a lock-step chain gang. It can be much more like teaching and learning an established sport or musical instrument. There are parts that are almost impossible to invent, and thus have to be shown and practised. But with these parts there are large elements of free joyful play.
We suggest using at least 3 phases for each idea. The first is a guided creation of something interesting -- for example, how to make a robot vehicle on the screen that will follow

In the US, the further the children progress in school, the harder it is to help them learn real math, both from the interference with the non-math they've already learned, and also the interference with the high stakes tests they have to take in high school. This is why we concentrate most of our energies with 4-6 graders where there is still a little flexibility. For example, many of the most important ideas in mathematics -- such as counting and arithmetic, calculus, vectors, geometry, probablity, feedback and control theory, etc. -- do not require algebra to understand or work with, and important parts of these can be well taught much earlier than “school math” supposes. For many of these, a computer can really both enhance the experience *and* also connect motivations from stories and games, etc., to motivations for learning math.
What we've done in the Squeak etoys is to take as many of the ideas we think are great for children that have appeared over the years from many different sources and combine these with extensive multimedia to make a kind of a “superhypercard” that we hope will appeal to many different kinds of children and adults for their own reasons. This seems to have worked for our target group of 4-6th graders (more needs to be done for both older and younger children). A good project in Squeak etoys is one that first “appeals as art” and then has some serious nontrivial content that has to be worked out to get the whole above threshold. The “serious nontrivial content” could be mathematical, scientific, theatrical, musical, visual, etc., or some mixture. We've concentrated on mathematical and scientific, in part because these two areas are the most weakly represented in schools today

Apr 16, 2019

[ref]

understanding engelbart

The essential character of oil painting has been obscured by an almost universal misreading of the relationship between its 'tradition' and its 'masters'. Certain exceptional artists in exceptional circumstances broke free of the norms of the tradition and produced work that was diametrically opposed to its values; yet these artists are acclaimed as the tradition's supreme representatives: a claim which is made easier by the fact that after their death, the tradition closed around their work, incorporating minor technical innovations, and continuing as though nothing of principle had been disturbed. This is why Rembrandt or Vermeer or Poussin or Chardin or Goya or Turner had no followers but only superficial imitators.

Apr 28, 2019

[ref]

on documenting dynamicland

A note on the illustrations
NOTE: For many years Robert Irwin forbade photographic reproduction of his paintings. An early intuition in this regard hardened into an absolute conviction during the time he was creating his line, dot, and disc paintings. As will be seen in the text that follows, Irwin felt that a photograph would capture none of what the painting was about and everything that it was not about. That is, a photograph could convey image but not presence. Furthermore, many of the works of Irwin's middle years, particularly the late lines and the dot paintings, are virtually unreproducible: not even the “image” of the original, as it were, finds its way to the contact sheet. Therefore this book includes no photographs of Irwin's work from 1957 through 1969.

May 7, 2019

Intuition
(Being able to feel your way around a problem space)
People generally refer to an “intuitive interface” as one that can be used immediately on first approach without learning. Not only is that not what I mean by the word “intuition”, it's almost exactly the opposite of what I mean.
I mean something like music notation or circuit notation, a representation that is gibberish on first approach, and requires significant learning, but once learned, allows one to see and navigate landscapes that were previously invisible.

May 8, 2019

James Clerk Maxwell wrote the Encyclopedia Britannica entry for "Diagram". It contains two diagrams.

May 12, 2019

At my first job, I remember protesting that a certain fashionable industrial design decision would look ridiculous in ten years. My boss responded, "We're not selling this product in ten years. We're selling it now." I learned something about myself that day.

gibbs-mode

@tophtucker: how many dream teams are there on earth? sort of a nice thought!

May 24, 2019

@tophtucker total number of dreams divided by average size team per dream

Jun 4, 2019

@tophtucker: Since the timeline can’t show silence, the more everyone “holds their tongue” (speaking only when they really *gotta*), the more extreme the timeline becomes, yielding a cacophony made up entirely of the negative space of restraint

Jun 4, 2019

@tophtucker

In person, withholding response can be a powerful response. On Twitter, a silent reaction is invisible. When every utterance is asynchronous and decontextualized, you can't not say something.

Jun 4, 2019

@tophtucker By the way, have you read much along this thread (that I just made up)? I think you might be into it. I'm thinking of Ong in particular (or at least as a starting point).

Orality → Literacy thread
Milman Perry, Albert Lord, Eric Havelock, Marshall McLuhan, Jack Goody, Walter Ong, Elizabeth Eisenstein, Keiran Egan

Jun 12, 2019

Carver's wonderful whirlwind history of how people learned to move electrons around youtube.com/watch?v=m99YI7…

Jul 30, 2019

[ref]

radiation pressure @dynamicland1

Jul 30, 2019

(This was three lines of code. You could have made it yourself.)

-- Laser draggle
When /bot/ is a “dragglebot”, /arena/ is a “arena”, /arena/ contains laser dot /dot/:
Wish (bot) has head position (dot).
Wish (bot) has head active (1).
End

Aug 12, 2019

osa.org/en-us/history/…

Anthony Siegman: oral history
And it's optics that really makes all of that possible. And the advent of the laser, besides enabling the [internet via fiber optics], enables us to just do so many kinds of tasks... incomparable scientific measurements and incomparable engineering...
It is very interesting that lasers as an economic market are a very minor one - the worldwide market for lasers is a few billion dollars total. And that amount might buy you one semiconductor fabrication plant, a few billion dollars, you see. But the economic impact of lasers on daily life, on engineering... is just immense. It's just beyond compare...
The Optical Society is a small society by many standards, for example compared to IEEE, which has 150,000 members or something. But it has a bright future.

Oct 17, 2019

[ref]

Beyond The Brain
Discovering Design
From Maxwell To Microphysics
Learning From Las Vegas
Preface To Plato
Seeing Like A State
Society Of The Spectacle
The Devil's Dictionary
The Gutenberg Galaxy
The Medium Is The Massage
The Mystery Of Metamorphosis
The Mythical Man-Month
The Public And Its Problems
Twitter And Tear Gas

Oct 22, 2019

@byedit: I'm looking for material in (1) psychology, & (2) linguistics that connects to early HCI work (Engelbart theory of augmentation, Kay). e.g. innateness, learning, universality, communication, co-op

Oct 22, 2019

@byedit In Early History of Smalltalk, Kay mentions Piaget, Bruner, Montessori, Dewey, Holt, Suzuki, Arnheim, McLuhan, others. worrydream.com/EarlyHistoryOfSmalltalk

Later: Betty Edwards, Doreen Nelson, Tim Gallwey, Koestler, (even later) Kahneman... (Some pointers here: squeakland.org/resources/books/readingList.jsp)

Nov 6, 2019

@pwang: I would like a programming language that lets us talk about data and data transformations.

Nov 6, 2019

@pwang This is a interesting exchange between (pro-data) Rich Hickey and (pro-meaning) Alan Kay: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=119416…

Nov 6, 2019

[ref]

(FWIW, after Rich concedes that most data requires "sufficient formatting and metadata" and "some human involvement for interpretation", Alan could have added, "For a scalable (intergalactic) system, that "metadata" must be a *process*, because human involvement doesn't scale.")