Seeing Like a Linguist #YAML
summary
Argues that UI design benefits from a linguistic perspective and traces how punched cards, teletypes, terminals and the web inherited many accidental quirks rather than intentional design. Shows a desktop browser demo where JavaScript translates a plain text format into dynamic HTML (mcdown→HTML), and surveys historical artifacts and surprising historical facts (e.g., 1880 census taking seven years, IBM misforecasting) to explain which early machines and interfaces succeeded and why.
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chapters (17)
- 0:00Welcome
- 1:03Technology as tool
- 2:27Why tools are the way they are
- 4:14Punched cards and legacy
- 9:40From cards to interaction
- 13:56Teletypes and keyboard origin
- 16:02SDS machine and QED editor
- 21:57Shell concept and evolution
- 25:32Future office and early GUIs
- 29:05Browser as editor
- 33:13JavaScript and 90s web battle
- 35:48From docs to web apps
- 37:23Design or evolution
- 38:50Linguistic view on tech
- 40:17New ways to read/write code
- 42:45Programming languages and OS
- 43:28Future of computing and VR
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