[6271] in s-news-athena
Re: Ease of use
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Stephen W. Barnett)
Thu Jan 26 21:58:17 1995
From: "Stephen W. Barnett" <sbarnett@marccri.marc.cri.nz>
To: michael j dix <mdix@dcssc.sj.hp.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 1995 15:38:52 GMT+1200
Cc: s-news@utstat.toronto.edu
X-Confirm-Reading-To: "Stephen W. Barnett" <sbarnett@marccri.marc.cri.nz>
> Splus is not easy to learn, and when one tries to do something new, it is
> often not obvious what functions to use.
Nobody ever said it was - anything worthwhile takes effort.
> If mastering Splus continues to be on a par with computer languages
> such as C, it will not survive:
Firstly, In order to maintain the flexability that S-Plus provides a
language interface is required, and this inherently makes a program
more complex.
Secondly, If C is so hard why has it survived when programmers could
just as easily use BASIC?
> most users will switch to something like Excel, which is
> becoming more powerful with each release.
To compare S-Plus with Excel is like comparing an F-16 with a Tiger
Moth!
> The amount of time and brainstrain required to be productive with
> something like Excel is far less than with Splus.
But you won't produce nearly as much or anything as exacting as with
S-Plus.
> The cost of Excel-like software will become much, much
> less, eventually there will not be enough Splus users to cover the development
> costs.
There will always be those who need flexability - something that does
not always come with power (a Lamborgini has plenty of power but NO
flexability).
> If the majority of the s-news list has time to browse through the manuals,
> looking for the useful gems, I am envious.
Time can be found for those things that are considered productive, no
matter how busy you are.
Cheers,
Stephen. W. Barnett
Sun System Administrator
The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of N.Z. Ltd
Private Bag 92169
Auckland
New Zealand
