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Date:Mon Aug 19 11:45:48 1994 
Subject:Re: ved_w/1 (Apology). 
From:jlc (Jonathan Cunningham) 
Volume-ID:940820.04 

Aaron wrote

> > Wouldn't it be more consistent if the w1 command took the optional filename
> > argument, and the w command reported an error if given an optional argument?
>
> This is probably my fault. I seem to recall that originally (in the
>  [stuff deleted]
>
> That was probably in 1980, or 1981. It can sometimes take about 13 years
> for an obvious silliness to be noticed!!!

This suggests a good UI (and API ?) design methodology: build a system,
get a user very familiar with it. Let the user do something else for a
few years. Then give them a task on the original system: by then, they
will have rationalised their memories of the command set, so any
mistakes can be considered as suggestions for rationalising the UI (or
API).

Actually, I think this approach is already the basis for some software
evaluation methodologies. Except for the thirteen year wait :-).

--jlc