Learning Curve

["Carl L. Distefano" 70154.3452@xxxxxxxx]

To the Group:

The Steep Learning Curve
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I've never understood this objection. Yoga has a steep learning
curve, but you can do yoga after a few minutes' instruction.
Oenology has steep curve, too -- or is it a slippery slope? --
but a swish, a sip, and a crust of bread will get you started. I
got started on Xy in 1987; I was a vicarious user for two years
before that -- via my secretary. One afternoon curiosity got the
best of me and I asked her to show me how it worked. I didn't
know a thing about word-processing or DOS. I had never used a PC
(though I was a proficient touch typist). The lesson lasted 15
or 20 minutes, no longer. Here's what I learned: F5 ... F9 to
execute a command. Commands: TP, LS, LM, RM, IP. F1 ... F1 to
define; F3 to cancel a define. F7 to copy; F8 to move (never
could remember which was which, until 18 months later when I
remapped the whole shebang). NE filename.ext;
SAve; ABort; STore. A little about cursor movement and --
Finito. You can put out a heck of a lot of prose with that
handful of commands! Add a few more -- underlining, expanded
view, SEarch and CHange -- and you're in business.

The concept of two-letter mnemonic commands -- I've always
assumed that this is what the X-Y in XyWrite refers to -- was
intuitive and compelling. Once you know that LM stands for Left
Margin -- and see it take immediate effect on the screen -- how
on earth can you ever forget what that means! A steep curve? On
the contrary, it was all downhill from there.

Eight years later I'm still learning XyWrite -- thanks, BTW, to
TTG Tech
Support, Nathan Sivin, Marvin Katz and others for quick responses
to my recent query about changing the size of footnote numbers --
but does that mean XyWrite is unduly hard to learn? I guess that
depends on how you choose to look at it. For me, the glass has
always been more than half full.

Keystoke Logjams
----------------
FWIW, while I routinely experienced backed-up keystrokes in
Signature -- so often, in fact, that I never adopted Sig for
"real" work (as opposed to fun with its enhanced XPL) -- I've
never had that problem in Xy4 or XyWin. Recently, though, I
discovered that a macro that appends block deletions to a RAMdisk
file slowed to a crawl -- to the point where I had to disable the
macro -- when the document being edited contained footnotes.
This is concededly different in kind and importance from the
keystroke slowdown, but it's the first and virtually only example
of sluggish performance encountered here since Xy4 made its debut
in early '92. Speed has always been a XyWrite hallmark, and
Kenneth Frank is right to be concerned when a glitch as basic as
this is identified. Best to get to the bottom of it.

And Finally ...
---------------
May I respectfully suggest an indefinite moratorium on ad hominem
posts? One's stomach tenses on reading the last few days' worth of messages. It's
... disagreeable. Hey, everyone! Spring's coming (here in the
Northern hemisphere, at any rate). Take a deep breath, do some
yoga, drink some wine. Play ball! Life's too short for slow WPs
and nasty talk.

--------------
Carl Distefano
70154.3452@xxxxxxxx