TITLE: Bret Victor's Advice for Reading Alan Kay
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: February 19, 2017 10:42 AM
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BODY:
In
<A HREF="http://worrydream.com/Links2013/">
   Links 2013</A>,
Bret Victor offers these bits of advice for how to read Alan Kay's
writings and listen to his talks:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 As you read and watch Alan Kay, try not to think about computational
 technology, but about a society that is fluent in thinking and
 debating in the dimensions opened up by the computational medium.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 Don't think about "coding" (that's ink and metal type, already
 obsolete), and don't think about "software developers" (medieval
 scribes only make sense in an <B>illiterate</B> society).
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have always been inspired and challenged by Kay's work.  One of
second-order challenges I face is to remember that his vision is
not ultimately about people like me writing programs.  It's about
a culture in which every person can use computational media the way
we all use backs of envelopes, sketch books, newspapers, and books
today.  Computation can change the way we think and exchange ideas.

Then again, it's hard enough to teach CS students to program.  That
is a sign that we still have work to do in understanding programming
better, and also in thinking about the kind of tools we build and use.
In terms of Douglas Engelbart's work, also prominently featured among
Victor's 2013 influences -- we need to build tools to improve how we
program before we can build tools to "improve the improving".

<A HREF="http://worrydream.com/Links2013/">
   Links 2013</A>
could be the reading list for an amazing seminar.  There are no
softballs there.
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