Re: PHIL: more machine thoughts

Kevin Goldsmith ([email protected])
Fri, 17 Jun 1994 12:18:03 -0700


When I said that navigation was a browser issue, not a language issue, I meant
more of the flying vs. driving vs. walking kind of navigation. Actually, I'm
not sure that "picking" is a language issue either. What we should maybe
define is an "activation" action. This action could either play a sound, or
move the object, or send you to a new "page" or whatever. If there was an
activation action, maybe there should also be a "regular" action which happens
continuously. This was the architecture I used for the Out Of Box experience,
where I extended Inventor 1.1 to include the notion of links and actions and it
worked very well.

Kevin

On Jun 16, 1:11pm, Mark Waks wrote:
> Subject: Re: PHIL: more machine thoughts
> Kevin writes a bunch of sensible stuff about issues that we don't need to
> worry about yet; I'll toss in one quibble, though:
> >Likewise is
> >discussion of navigation (flying/walking/etc), that is a browser issue, not
a
> >language issue.
>
> Yes and no. The problem is that the *paradigm* of navigation we are using
> needs to be reflected in the language. Specifically: if we go with the
> Cyberspace Protocol, then we simply don't need to deal with navigation
> at the language level -- all navigation is handled through the official
> space-defining sites. (If I grok what Mark is saying.) But if we go for
> a Web-like model (which I strongly prefer), then we need some mechanism
> in the language to say, "this thing is a doorway, and goes to this URL".
> We don't need to define many of the *details* at the language level, but
> I believe we need to know whether we're using links or not...
>
> (Something a lot like the CP could be implemented under a Web-like model,
> with a subset of sites agreeing to conform to a standard authority. But
> pure CP implies language differences from Web-based CP, I think...)
>
> -- Justin
>
> Random Quote du Jour:
>
> Re: The 1990 Mass. elections
> "This is our state.
> This is our state on politicians.
> Any Answers?"
> -- Keenan Ross
>-- End of excerpt from Mark Waks