zz: Apologies; new message

["Jan Theodore Galkowski" <disneylogic@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sorry folks.  I was doing some internal testing
late last night and what was essentially a nonsense
message leaked out the TCP/IP port to the ZZ
development list.  Apologies.

I do have a question, however.

 http://www.algebraist.com/Non/NonDoc20030504.htm

documents a forthcoming ZigZag-like system.  The
document is not complete, although at least the
document will be completed by 20th June 2003, and
most likely there will be something executable 
available by then as well.  That executable thing
may be without much of a GUI, however, at least
at first.

And that brings me to my question.  In the realm of
presenting zzstructure or "linkspace" as it is called
in the document, there are two representations
possible.  

One is an objective presentation, what might be called 
"third person omniscient".  In this case the problem 
is one of representing all or at least a significant 
chunk of linkspace for examination. There is some kind 
of zoom capability to drill down to individual 
Containers or to back up to get some more global 
perspective.

The second is a "first person limited" presentation, like
the one in the demo zz Andrew built where the coordinate
system is user-centric.  The name is akin to the "first
person shooter" term used in games.  In this case one
sees using some kind of view a local neighborhood of 
the linkspace and navigates through it, possibly at
high speed if the facilities and presentation can 
keep up with it.  There is always an option to slow
down and dwell on particular Containers, open them, 
see what orderings (akin, somewhat, to dimensions)
they are linked to, etc.

Is there and has there been a discussion about which
means of navigating is superior?  Or is that a red
herring in the sense that both have features which 
are desirable, and should both be provided?  Pointers
to writeups are fine.

The user-centric coordinate system is adopted in the
"turtle geometry" systems of Seymour Papert and his 
folks teaching kids math ideas and programming because
of its simplicity.  Does that extend to n-dimensional
navigation in your experience?  Is the idea of 
navigating through information a concept some find 
tough to manage?

Thanks very much for any pointers or thoughts.

 - Jan



-- 
Jan Theodore Galkowski   (o°)                    
 codingwizard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 http://www.algebraist.com/

 Anon,Tcl/Tk,gawk,ETL,SQL,
 ANSI C,Lua,SAS

 "Nature bats last." 
   -- Sheila O'Hara, 1989