Re: How to proceed

[Joram Berger]

Am 16.10.2012 02:44, schrieb David Kastrup:

> Most of the things that would count as simplifications are so because
> they drop details used for distinguishing things told to the computer.
> Where those distinctions are distinctions between non-sensical
> directions and potentially useful directions, dropping them means that
> LilyPond needs dependable ways to tell non-sense from sense.  That means
> that before being able to drop such a distinction, sense and non-sense
> need to be separated by lines that are clearly distinguishable by
> LilyPond and clearly recognizable to the user.  Usually this means that
> they obey simple rules.

That is correct, but too abstract for me to see what it means in this
particular case.

> Searching and recognizing those rules and condensing them into a
> coherent design needs significantly different analytical skills than
> having an opinion about simplicity, even though this opinion may very
> well correlate with some degree of underlying consistency.
> 
> And there will be situations which lend themselves to multiple
> incompatible patternings.  Picking among different incompatible
> patternings of a problem space means making choices with consequences
> for future patterning work beyond the immediately apparent consequence
> of each choice. [...]

Sure. That's why I wrote what I find confusing (and how *I* would find
it easier to handle), regardless of the implications - just because I
don't know them. It is clear that you know much better what a good
choice is, as you know the consequences. So my suggestion had to be read
with a shy "perhaps?".

> What I am getting at is that if we want to have the basic functionality
> usable for beginners and musicians who don't know programming, it won't
> do to let beginners and musicians who don't know programming make the
> design choices, even though their input and feedback will be helpful for
> making checking that the design actually meets its objectives.

I agree completely. And I do not vote for a democratic choice. The
decision is always up to you developers, because I don't have the
knowledge to decide what the best solution would be.
(And I appreciate that my  mail has been taken notice of - that's enough
for me. I have trust in the decisions made without me - in the past they
were quite good.)

Cheers,
Joram