Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!genrad!wjh12!n44a!ima!cca!editor-p From: editor-p@cca.UUCP Newsgroups: fa.editor-p Subject: Modes effect on learning Message-ID: <4810@cca.UUCP> Date: Sun, 5-Jun-83 04:45:42 EDT Article-I.D.: cca.4810 Posted: Sun Jun 5 04:45:42 1983 Date-Received: Tue, 7-Jun-83 01:32:10 EDT Lines: 40 >From coleman@NRL-AIC Sun Jun 5 04:45:32 1983 I have felt for some time that sticky modes make for a confusing editor. While an experienced hacker can pick up either type of editor, moded or nonmoded, easily enough, it isn't so for a novice, who will often find a moded editor difficult. I believe this is because the required mental model of a moded editor is almost always more involved (for a given level of capability). An extreme (in several respects) and not-necessarily-fair example: I recently saw a bright 10 year old child learn two editors. He first learned the Apple Logo program editor, a super pared-down Emacs clone. He picked it up quickly and was having so much fun using it that he would spend as much time just sitting and "playing" at changing things on the screen as actually creating/editing/running Logo procedures. Several months later, he learned (a subset of) the Apple (UCSD) Pascal editor in order to be able to write reports for school, etc. (The Logo editor can't be used to create a text file.) The Pascal editor is heavily moded, with separate modes for insertion, deletion, overtype, cursor movement, etc. Even though the mode was constantly displayed on a "mode line," he had no end of trouble. Of course he had the usual problem of forgetting which mode he was in, but in addition, he seemed to have difficulty forming a conceptual model of the editor that would correctly tell him which mode he should be in at any given time. Particularly annoying was the way a single key could perform completely unrelated editing functions in the different modes. Learning each mode was like learning a separate editor. Although at this point he has used the Pascal editor more than the Logo editor, he still has much more trouble with simple editing tasks in the Pascal editor. -jeff [Editor's note: this might, of course, be a primacy effect. Have any of you developmental psychologists out there ever studied children learning to use computers, either editors or command languages? /jqj]