[Sigia-l] DHTML Menus and HTML Widgets

[m.milano]

( i cant resist chiming in on the minutiae)

i agree with this distinction between markup and programming.

the point being made is not that javascript is an inferior programming
medium than java or whatnot. that is a separate issue. separate.
the point is about html not being a programming language.
it is a technical difference. it isnt an opinion.
it isnt a dismissal. it isnt a pejorative label.

there are articles addressing this already
e.g. http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/prog.html
this one is interesting because it starts to get to the idea of one 
(HTML) being
'information' or data, (passive) and the other (programming) being
processing, or active.
*neither* is a less favored child, per se.


(if distinction has any relevance could be debated.)

!

however, i disagree with the idea that HTML needs to be categorized with java
or programming in order to gain stature, or to rise out of some 
elementary level.
i think that muddies the waters. it may help support current 
practitioners with jobs,
for example, but it doesnt help advance much of anything (overall
practice of web development, skewed ideas about what HTML is and what
roles it plays, visual designers not having to 'know' what markup can 
or cannot do.
or interaction designers for that matter).

i also think that the argument about designers knowing code or coders
knowing design is also a different issue. i think they are closely
tied. maybe in the way that the three vertices of a triangle are tied
together.

i dont see why having the
elements be in different spheres of the venn diagram means a limitation
to a person. tackle that problem.


m/"rambling on about cross functionality"/milano




At 13:41 -0400 7/17/02, Listera wrote:
>"robert.dornbush at ps.ge.com" wrote:
>
>>  I do agree that true artistic & programming skills are a rare combo, but I
>>  think it's time to recognize HTML developers as programmers too, else we put
>>  the C++ and Java guys on a pedestal in the hallowed halls of "real
>>  programming" and dismiss HTML, Java script, etc. as some sort of inferior
>>  "pretty pictures" programming that a third grader could do...
>
>(Emotions, team roles, pretty pictures, pedestals aside,) people just can't
>seem to be focusing on a *narrow* point these day, so I'll repeat one last
>time: programming (executable code writing) and markup (tagging text) are
>*technically* not the same thing. I oversimplified it for the sake of
>emphasis here, but there remains a fundamental difference there, requiring
>quite different skill sets.
>
>Best,
>
>Ziya
>