Re: Direct formatting STYLE attribute

   From: Paul Prescod <papresco@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca>

|   Most people are not taught HTML.  They "pick it up on the Web".  If they get
|   confused, they ask someone or look it up in a book.
---

Yes, and I assume that once stylesheets are supported, the examples they
see will begin to have common, standard stylesheet references in them
and will use class= attributes.

---
|   The direct style attribute blurs the line between style sheets and HTML and
|   makes it more difficult to learn one without the other.
---

Maybe, but I would expect direct styling to be used so infrequently that
the novice would be unlikely to be confused.

---
|							  Within weeks of the
|   release of the stylesheet enhanced Netscape, wg-html will be swamped with
|   requests for more "HTML style sheet tags."  "I wish HTML supported
|   florescent hyphenation"
---

So?

---
|   If it were really the case that "one more feature" would not make a language
|   harder to learn, then every language could have every feature.  Those of us
|   (and this may well include you, Scott) who have programmed in languages that
|   have every feature know that this is _not_ the case.  Extra features do make
|   a language harder to learn, especially if they are features that blur the
|   difference between components of the system.
---

Extra features *can* make it harder to use a language.  I think they
*must* make it harder to use a language like a native, but not every
language is structured in a way that makes learning a subset
impractical.

---
|   Further, if those features blatantly overlap the abilities of another part
|   of the system, most people will think: "I must not understand this system.
|   Surely there is some difference between these two features."
---

So, how do you feel about naked lambdas in LISP (a language which does a
good job of not forcing you to name things unless they need names)?
Do you think LISP would be a "better" language if every function had to
be created with defun?

scott

--
scott preece
motorola/mcg urbana design center	1101 e. university, urbana, il   61801
phone:	217-384-8589			  fax:	217-384-8550
internet mail:	preece@urbana.mcd.mot.com

Received on Thursday, 7 December 1995 17:10:29 UTC