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:zz: PURPS OF ZZ (semi-weekly Gratuitous General Statement) (was Re: [zigzag] Okay, I've figured out



Newly-Noticed Welcome Particpant Phil Wall writes:

>So far, zigzag is a really nifty toy, but I have to say it's not much more
>than that for me until I understand more about it.

(Ahem.)

ZigZag is a prototype and demonstration tool with
 many current intentions.  It has been put together
 with *very* limited resources (but especially the
 most excellent initial versions of Andrew Pam, and
 maintenance by himself and Bek Oberin),
 purposing to--

1.  Demonstrate that it is possible to have software
 without metaphors*, icons, hierarchies or applications.
2.  Begin building a personal software environment
 entirely to my own liking, for every purpose.  (My
 belief is that others will like it too, but only if I design
 it exactly to suit the customer base I know best !-)
3.  Show a generalized form of connectivity that could
 be made the basis for a lot of things in--
- software
- consumer appliances (note that it nicely fits both
 touch-tone and Nintendo input)
4.  Investigate a possible new operating system / world
 without hierarchies, with everything annotatable, etc.
5.  Provide a test bed and assembly kit for component
 software-- a very different alternative to Visual Basic.
6.  Provide a new interface for Unix/Linux (the zzshell
 command, not yet functioning correctly, which will
 allow arbitrary cells to execute Unix command lines
 and programs, yet pass parameters; allowing gradualism
 in learning one of the world's most user-hostile environments.

Best, T


* scraps of resemblance-- I refuse to accept the term
 "metaphor" for conceptual structure or virtuality.
 See my book *The Future of Information* at 




At 04:16 PM 11/4/98 -0600, you wrote:
>how to navigate, make new dimensions and nodes, make links, and put in
>data. So is there any documentation around that describes how to make
>nodes that are active, that is, nodes that I can park cursor 0 on and hit
>return to get them to do something after having put code inside them?
>I realize you can simply put a "#" as the first character in the node,
>but I don't know what commands are available to put in them.
>
>So far, zigzag is a really nifty toy, but I have to say it's not much more
>than that for me until I understand more about it.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>Philip J. Wall            |
>TeX Programmer            |           "Accentuate
>Wolfram Research, Inc.    |              the
>philw@xxxxxxxxxxx         |          Indeterminate"
>(217)398-0700, ext. 170   |
>
>
>
____________________________________________________
Theodor Holm Nelson, Visiting Professor of Environmental Information
 Keio University, Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Fujisawa, Japan
 Home Fax from USA: 011-81-466-46-7368  (If in Japan, 0466-46-7368)
Professorial home page http://www.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~ted/ 
_____________________________________________________
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 Tel. 415/ 331-4422, fax 415/332-0136  
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Quotation of the day, 98.11.05:
Last words of Ludwig Wittgenstein: "Tell them I had a wonderful life."