AnotherBackup

Created Tuesday 25 May 2021

LIS5362 - On Text


The Internet


Smart Network (circuit switching)

Dumb Network (packet switching)

Our L'il Internet



RULE 1 - Pass this note to the person in the back

RULE 2 - If you can't, then pass it to someone
who is closer to them than you are.


Our L'il Internet


C D B (1/4)

Our L'il Internet


A E E (2/4)

Our L'il Internet


F A E (3/4)

Our L'il Internet


E D F (4/4)

What was sent?

A huge number
(technically, this is DEFINITELY a right answer)

What was sent?


Hex: CDBAEEFAEEDF =

226,202,757,033,695

What was sent?


MAC Address?
Perhaps a computer was identifying itself.

CD:BA:EE:FA:EE:DF

What was sent?


Perhaps, a lovely color scheme...


What was sent?


Music?


What was sent?


Something else?

110011011011101011101110111110101110111011011111


What was sent?




Wait - maybe encrypted?

(badly)

Tricky...


C		A		F		E
D		E		A		D
B		E		E		F

Obviously, a restaurant recommendation. (Or not.)

Cafe Dead Beef

So, we have...


DIGITIZATION (literally, turning any "data" into a number)

+

PACKET SWITCHING (peer to peer node based network)
(and also public infrastracture, but that's for 5411 ☺ )

What is DIGITIZATION, really?

Well, turning things into NUMBERS
..but that's when the computer is "talking"

What is DIGITIZATION, really?

What about the humans?


Which is "primitive?"

THIS v.

Which is "primitive?"



Why Command Line?

Because you can very quickly say/relate complex concepts in a concise way, by combining a series of simple symbols.

Why Command Line?

Because you can very quickly say/relate complex concepts in a concise way, by combining a series of simple symbols.


You know, like talking. Or writing.

Why Command Line?


Command line is the act of literally talking to the computer....unlike...

What's so bad about the mouse again?

"Caveman interface."
Pre-linguistic/animal-like
"Point and grunt"

(Tablets and even "Minority Report" are cool and fun...but why is Charades a game?)


It's so easy, even...



On Intelligence

Buttons and gestures are frequently convenient for repetitive tasks...


...but to do anything intelligent,
you need LANGUAGE.
TEXT. Numbers and Letters.

Controversial idea:


The mouse is the worst thing to ever happen to computers.
Most real work = communication = text.

- Tablets (and mouses) arguably didn't do much for productivity...

- Siri, et al, on the other hand...

Note: this is also "why Linux"

1) Free and open
2) Language/Text Based

(These two are completely related; newer stuff tries to allow for more of 2 and/or 1; e.g. Mac OS X, Android)

The Unix Way

Write programs that do one thing and do it well.

Write programs to work together.

Write programs to handle text streams, because that is a universal interface.

In which I attempt to prove

that Microsoft Word is the worst program ever made
☺

The idea: WYSIWYG:

What You See Is What You Get

i.e. What you're looking at on the page is what will be printed out...

The idea: WYSIWYG:

What You See Is What You Get

i.e. What you're looking at on the page is what will be printed out...

"..because everyone who isn't a geek like us is a complete idiot"

The problem?

1
2
3
4
...

The problem?

1
2
1
3
4
...

I've ranted about it..

and you've dealt with it.

If you can't "see behind the scenes"
it's AWFUL to work with.

And ironically

Somewhat the opposite of Microsoft EXCEL / Libreoffice CALC

where you can click on the cell and see how you got there.

Okay, so what else you got?


What You See Is What You Mean

i.e.

When composing, you should be able to
see the "source code"*

*this can be metaphorical or literal

The Grandaddy - LaTeX

Fine grained control at the price of MAN THIS IS HARD.

But what else? i.e.

Hey, what about the M in HTML
MARKUP.

Hey, where have i seen that before?

<h1> This is the head line of the thing </h1>
<p> Let's say some things about the things </p>
<ul> 
	<li> Here's a thing </li>
	<li> and another </li>
	<li> and another </li>
</ul>

not bad..

HTML


Where we're going.

Also, a close cousin of XML..
..WHICH IS WHATS GOING ON UNDER THE HOOD OF DOCX et al anyway.

..seriously, try it. Rename a .docx to .zip and have fun..

To get this even better

Understand the theory of "semantic" 

<article> Here is the very smart thing I'm saying </article>
<aside> now send me money </aside>
<address> 2300 Jackson Street..</address>

We'll get to HTML later, but what about for prose?

HTML and LaTeX are *very* cumbersome, no?
What about something that we all write in,
..with just MINIMAL formatting along the way.

For example


# This can be a headline

/and this can be italics/
*and this could be
*bullet
*points
etc. etc.

MARKDOWN

Excellent idea. Markdown..
.. or something like it.

MARKDOWN

AND, because it's text,

and sort of like a programming language..

WIDELY interchangeable with other formats.

See, e.g. Pandoc

Perhaps the most important part

If you absolutely must deliver a document with formatting;
use PDF if at all possible. This is a good standard.

Specifics: What you may need:

These are in all of these:

Specifics: What you may need:

Outline tools — usually
"Ordered Lists" - usually Numbers and letters
"Unordered Lists" - Bulletpoints


More on "Text"


Backlinks: FSU Courses:LIS5362:RawSlides