Archivos diarios: 17 de diciembre de 2003

The New York Time vuelve a comentar los efectos de PowerPoint en la inteligencia:

This year, Edward Tufte — the famous theorist of information presentation — made precisely that argument in a blistering screed called The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint. In his slim 28-page pamphlet, Tufte claimed that Microsoft’s ubiquitous software forces people to mutilate data beyond comprehension. For example, the low resolution of a PowerPoint slide means that it usually contains only about 40 words, or barely eight seconds of reading. PowerPoint also encourages users to rely on bulleted lists, a »faux analytical» technique, Tufte wrote, that dodges the speaker’s responsibility to tie his information together. And perhaps worst of all is how PowerPoint renders charts. Charts in newspapers like The Wall Street Journal contain up to 120 elements on average, allowing readers to compare large groupings of data. But, as Tufte found, PowerPoint users typically produce charts with only 12 elements. Ultimately, Tufte concluded, PowerPoint is infused with »an attitude of commercialism that turns everything into a sales pitch.»

Por otro lado, JR trata el mismo tema y comenta:

Por mi parte, lamento la fiebre simplificadora en la que han caído muchos ingenieros y ejecutivos por usar esa aplicación, pero tampoco vamos a negar su utilidad en presentaciones, conferencias y la docencia en general. Unos buenos apuntes escritos en Power Point, y luego completados a bolígrafo durante la clase, hacen milagros.

[Estoy escuchando: «Le diablo Mariachi» de Le diablo Mariachi en el disco Fanatique fantastique]

Otro interesante ensayo. Analiza el dios cristiano para decidir si es consistente o no. La conclusión final es que no, claro.

[Estoy escuchando: «Le diablo Mariachi» de Le diablo Mariachi en el disco Fanatique fantastique]

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Excelente ensayo, Biculturalism, de Joel Spolsky sobre las diferencias entre los programadores de Windows y Unix, aprovechando la lectura del libro The Art of Unix Programming. Su conclusión, más bien premisa, pero bueno, es que la diferencia es cultural, producto de la evolución de ambas plataformas:

What are the cultural differences between Unix and Windows programmers? There are many details and subtleties, but for the most part it comes down to one thing: Unix culture values code which is useful to other programmers, while Windows culture values code which is useful to non-programmers.

Otra cita más:

How did we get different core values? This is another reason Raymond’s book is so good: he goes deeply into the history and evolution of Unix and brings new programmers up to speed with all the accumulated history of the culture back to 1969. When Unix was created and when it formed its cultural values, there were no end users. Computers were expensive, CPU time was expensive, and learning about computers meant learning how to program. It’s no wonder that the culture which emerged valued things which are useful to other programmers. By contrast, Windows was created with one goal only: to sell as many copies as conceivable at a profit. Scrillions of copies. «A computer on every desktop and in every home» was the explicit goal of the team which created Windows, set its agenda and determined its core values. Ease of use for non-programmers was the only way to get on every desk and in every home and thus usability über alles became the cultural norm. Programmers, as an audience, were an extreme afterthought.

La lectura es muy interesante.

[Estoy escuchando: «Dumbo drop» de Le diablo Mariachi en el disco Fanatique fantastique]