diff --git a/books/bookvol12.pamphlet b/books/bookvol12.pamphlet index 5fed721..123cb31 100644 --- a/books/bookvol12.pamphlet +++ b/books/bookvol12.pamphlet @@ -299,6 +299,83 @@ November 10, 2003 ((iHy)) \pagenumbering{arabic} \setcounter{chapter}{0} % Chapter 1 \chapter{Axiom Crystal Design} +\section{Book presentation} +In the book "Science at the Edge" by John Brockman +(ISBN 978-1-4027-5450-0), +in the chapter "The second coming -- A manifesto" by David Gelernter, +David talks about the way we interact with computers. This has some +bearing on the crystal notion. + +\subsection{Book spines} +David points out that we currently have a "desktop metaphor" which +allows us to view our computer interactions as though we were moving +things around on a desktop, typically folders and documents. There are +several limitations of this metaphor. + +The first is that there is a limited amount of space on the desktop. +He proposes the idea of a landscape where the computer is just a moving +window. This gives much more real estate to hold information. + +The lack of desktop space leads to the icon idea to capture a small +representation of a document or folder. There are limitations to how +representative such a tiny image can be of the original. A book spine +is an excellent representation of the contents of a book but a tiny +picture of a folder, not so much. + +If I look at this idea in terms of the Crystal concept I can +see two parallels. The first idea (desktop/icon) vs (landscape/book) +is related to the organization of Axiom. There is an ongoing effort +to organize the whole of the system into some small number of books. +The whole system is then somewhat similar to an encyclopedia where +there is a shelf of related information. + +Currently the algebra books are on the order of 5000 pages of raw +material. They will likely grow many times that size as literate +information is added. One website representation would show the +Axiom books as book-spines where the algebra section could be +broken up (visually, not actually) as encyclopedia-like images. +Thus, you would find the algebra "books" from A-C, D-F, etc. + +\subsection{Linking information} + +A second idea from the book is the limitations of the hierarchical +file system idea. Why does a particular file have to have a name? +Why does a particular file only live in one folder? + +For the first question, he comments that if you had 3 dogs it is reasonable +to name them. But if you have 10,000 cows it probably is not. Some +information can be anonymous. + +For the second question, he asks why doesn't a folder "grab" the +information so that a particular file might not reside in multiple +folders. Unix has this idea embodied in links but Windows doesn't +support the idea. + +He suggests that it might be reasonable to have the folders be active +so that a particular piece of information, say a travel receipt, might +be "grabbed" by the taxes folder and the travel expense folder. + +Crystal's view of this is somewhat different. Information isn't named. +It resides in "the problem" floating in space. The naming of information +is related to the view. + +So if we take a problem in space, say all of your financial information +and wrap a crystal around it we can view it in multiple ways, each of +which represents a "facet". Moving between these views corresponds to +rotating the crystal to view "the problem" through a different facet. + +So, in a financial crystal, you might have a taxes facet, a travel +expense facet, an assets facet, a checkbook facet, etc. A travel +receipt from a business trip which was added to "the problem' would +show up in all of these facets in different ways. It is up to the +facet to organize this piece of information into its proper place +based on the intent of the facet. + +"The problem" just is. The meaning of the problem, the division of the +problem into parts, the naming of the parts, the organization of the +parts, indeed, the very idea that a problem has parts is a function of +the facet, not a function of the problem. + \chapter{Experiments} \section{Hide/Show a div element} Here we demonstrate the ability to hide or show a named div element. diff --git a/changelog b/changelog index 2c5fbac..e358c2b 100644 --- a/changelog +++ b/changelog @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ +20090412 tpd src/axiom-website/patches.html 20090413.01.tpd.patch +20090413 tpd books/bookvol12 add Gelernter's observations 20090412 tpd src/axiom-website/patches.html 20090412.01.tpd.patch 20090412 tpd books/bookvol5 fix event comparison case chain bug 20090410 tpd src/axiom-website/patches.html 20090410.03.tpd.patch diff --git a/src/axiom-website/patches.html b/src/axiom-website/patches.html index 66d6ce3..f292865 100644 --- a/src/axiom-website/patches.html +++ b/src/axiom-website/patches.html @@ -1066,5 +1066,7 @@ bookvol5 add more interpreter code
faq 50: Cannot find libXpm.a
20090412.01.tpd.patch bookvol5 fix event comparison case chain bug
+20090413.01.tpd.patch +bookvol12 add Gelernter's observations