Computer proverbs

[James A. Landau]

An interesting computer proverb crossed my desk today:

     "Know thy users - for they are not you"

The writer (one D.R. Lenorovitz) was critiquing some software in which, when
the user reached a certain point, the meaning of one of the keys on the
keyboard changed.  After describing in detail what was wrong with this, the
writer then stated
"In summary, one of the primary design dictates is: "Know thy users - for
they are not you".", meaning that just because some input made sense to the
designer, it should be avoided if it did not make sense to the users.

Lenorovitz also commented, regarding the use of the jargon phrase "strongly
typed" which would not be known to the audience,  "I can guarantee that it
will result in at least some users banging excessively hard on their
keyboards!!"

        - James A. Landau
          systems engineer
          FAA Technical Center (ACB-510/BCI)
          Atlantic City Int'l Airport NJ 08405 USA