Ideas about how software should behave

[ROGER GRAYDON CHRISTMAN]

On Thu, Nov 9, 2017, Gregory Ewing wrote:>
But ideas are not software -- they don't actively
>*do* anything, so trying to anthropomorphise them
>doesn't really work. 


Generally true.   I just remember the notable exception:

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

That case of anthropomorphism works just as well as it was intended.

As far as this whole thing about criticism being taken personally,
I just can't get a certain sketch out of my head:

".. but I came here for an argument!"
"Oh, oh!  I'm sorry!  This is abuse!... You want room 12A next door."

It is hard to tell the difference sometimes.

But on this count, I would still try to find the distinction about
whether a particular idea seems to ridiculous, or arrogant, as
an anomalous statement from the presenter vs. it being 
representative of a regular pattern.   I think many of the posters
here appear commonly enough to place the spirit of a particular
post in the context of their general presentation style.

Roger Christman
Pennsylvania State University
On Thu, Nov  9, 2017, Gregory Ewing wrote:But ideas are not software -- they
don't actively
*do* anything, so trying to anthropomorphise them
doesn't really work.