https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1349:_Shouldn%27t_Be_Hard&feed=atom&action=history1349: Shouldn't Be Hard - Revision history2024-03-28T14:04:39ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1349:_Shouldn%27t_Be_Hard&diff=297317&oldid=prevJLZ0kTC5 at 15:37, 21 October 20222022-10-21T15:37:12Z<p></p>
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<td colspan="2" style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 15:37, 21 October 2022</td>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>This comic refers to a sentiment sometimes expressed by computer users that "what I'm trying to do is really simple — it shouldn't be hard."  The statement demonstrates an assumption that because the desired action is conceptually simple, it must therefore be simple to implement. There is a logic to this line of thinking, but in reality, as the off-screen character notes, a computer is a very complicated set of components which effectively can't do ''anything'' (simple or complex) until someone has programmed the functionality into it. Even more abstractly, a random silicon crystal can't do anything at all until someone has applied a complex industrial process to it that allows it to read and execute computer code in the first place.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>This comic refers to a sentiment sometimes expressed by computer users that "what I'm trying to do is really simple — it shouldn't be hard."  The statement demonstrates an assumption that because the desired action is conceptually simple, it must therefore be simple to implement. There is a logic to this line of thinking, but in reality, as the off-screen character notes, a computer is a very complicated set of components which effectively can't do ''anything'' (simple or complex) until someone has programmed the functionality into it. Even more abstractly, a random silicon crystal can't do anything at all until someone has applied a complex industrial process to it that allows it to read and execute computer code in the first place.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In terms of a user-interface, the "simplicity" of executing a given task may be more a function of the perceived utility and frequency-of-use of that function, and less a function of its conceptual "simplicity". For example, changing the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">colour </del>of the font in a word processor is often simpler than changing the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">colour </del>of the background/page, even though changing <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">colours </del>of two parts of the document would appear equally "simple" in concept. The different implementation is a design choice by the programmer most likely on the basis that the intended user is considered more likely to want to change the font <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">colour </del>than to change the page <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">colour</del>.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In terms of a user-interface, the "simplicity" of executing a given task may be more a function of the perceived utility and frequency-of-use of that function, and less a function of its conceptual "simplicity". For example, changing the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">color </ins>of the font in a word processor is often simpler than changing the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">color </ins>of the background/page, even though changing <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">colors </ins>of two parts of the document would appear equally "simple" in concept. The different implementation is a design choice by the programmer most likely on the basis that the intended user is considered more likely to want to change the font <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">color </ins>than to change the page <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">color</ins>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>This sentiment equally applies to computer programmers: most commonly when they are just beginning to learn a new computer language. Sometimes because of difficulties with the syntax rules of the language or similar problems, a programmer may spend a long time trying to get the computer to do a simple action, such as display a message on the screen, or ask the user for a number. This is also true when a programmer is working in a language which doesn't have an easy way to do something that might be simple in another language. And in computer science, it may often be [[1425:_Tasks|very hard to differentiate the almost impossible from the easy]], especially when compared to what humans can and can't do easily.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>This sentiment equally applies to computer programmers: most commonly when they are just beginning to learn a new computer language. Sometimes because of difficulties with the syntax rules of the language or similar problems, a programmer may spend a long time trying to get the computer to do a simple action, such as display a message on the screen, or ask the user for a number. This is also true when a programmer is working in a language which doesn't have an easy way to do something that might be simple in another language. And in computer science, it may often be [[1425:_Tasks|very hard to differentiate the almost impossible from the easy]], especially when compared to what humans can and can't do easily.</div></td></tr>
</table>JLZ0kTC5https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1349:_Shouldn%27t_Be_Hard&diff=283833&oldid=prevTheusaf: Reverted edits by Donald Trump (talk) to last revision by CRLF2022-05-26T20:01:12Z<p>Reverted edits by <a href="/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Donald_Trump" title="Special:Contributions/Donald Trump">Donald Trump</a> (<a href="/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Donald_Trump&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="User talk:Donald Trump (page does not exist)">talk</a>) to last revision by <a href="/wiki/index.php/User:CRLF" title="User:CRLF">CRLF</a></p>
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