Elegance is a function.
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, December 18 2006 06:36
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This is the pithy quote which I have just coined. At least, I think I just coined it, and it doesn't show up on Google; but I can't rule out cryptomnesia. It sounds like something I might have read somewhere. Whatever. Is it true? I think it is, or at least can be. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
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Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
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written Monday, December 18 2006 08:05
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it's a function of ur mom Um, and on a more serious note, it sounds like one of those things that a person would say and a whole crowd would nod, but it wouldn't actually mean anything. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
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Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
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written Monday, December 18 2006 08:18
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Well, yeah. The whole point of a lot of semantic analysis is that anything can be a function, provided you have enough brackets and commas to define it with absurd rigor. It would be less platitudinal if you said something about what it is a function of. -------------------- Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, December 18 2006 08:42
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It is supposed to mean something, but not that. By 'function' I mean 'feature' or 'purpose', not a mathematical function. The idea is that doing something elegantly is sometimes really important, to the point where it would be misleading to describe the elegance as a way of performing a function that could also be performed inelegantly. Sometimes doing it inelegantly means not actually doing it at all; sometimes doing something elegantly means doing something new. The idea isn't a truism, because sometimes it's not true at all. With plenty of things, good and bad, elegance is irrelevant, and done is all that matters. I don't claim the idea is original, but I've been struck by it lately as important, and this slogan seemed a good way of claiming importance for it. Making something elegant can be making it perform a new function. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Monday, December 18 2006 08:52
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I'd rather hear the explanation than the one-liner, personally. I also have heard the utiliity elegance explained before, but the quote is new to me. —Alorael, who certainly likes it. He'd just like it to be relegated to the proper place of the pithy one-liner and not actually used for matters that require pith. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Off With Their Heads
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written Monday, December 18 2006 09:10
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An example would help. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
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written Monday, December 18 2006 09:26
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A very simple example comes from programming. If you can write a program with many lines of complex code or few lines of simple code, the latter is more elegant. The latter is also less resource intensive, which can be essential in a program that already pushes the boundaries of acceptable system requirements. —Alorael, who also thinks explanations are themselves examples. A verbose, tortuous explanation can easily end up confusing listeners, but a simple and elegant explanation delivers more elucidation more quickly. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, December 18 2006 10:27
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Sometimes the inelegant explanation simply conveys no understanding, even though in principle the necessary material is all in there, while the elegant one gets the point across. This is the sort of thing I mean. Or, what actually prompted this slogan for me: a shareware organizer app that is elegant enough that using it makes me feel calm and organized, where an awkward or ugly one that technically did all the same things would not. And at least for me, feeling calm and organized is much more important than making all the right lists and schedules, because that's what lets me actually do the things I've planned. Or, for that matter, pithy slogans. Fully recognizing (I believe) their limitations, I'd still say that a good pithy slogan stakes out prime mental real estate for an idea, so that you pay real attention to it, and (maybe) remember it when remembering it is useful. Saying the same thing in a less elegant way fails to do this. [ Monday, December 18, 2006 10:29: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
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written Monday, December 18 2006 11:01
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A case in point. —Alorael, who thinks the elegant language speaks for itself. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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? Man, ? Amazing
Member # 5755
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written Monday, December 18 2006 11:42
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I'm afraid that is all a load of hooey. Elegance is a state of appreciation. It is an observed quality rather than an actual one. The human form (idealized) has been considered elegant, yet it founders in both air and sea. Decidedly unelegant. Photosynthesis is elegant until one gains the knowledge of the jury-rigged inner functions that are disguised by the simplistic formula. Or did you mean that Elegance is a function of relativity? That is something I could agree with. Fred and Ginger are only when on the dance floor. -------------------- quote: Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Monday, December 18 2006 11:43
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To Alorael: Hmmm, that was a pretty good reply you gave to that G4 question, succinct enough to get the elegance sticker. But the link above makes me try to write a response myself. If this was a way of making some subtle point, then it's elegant as heck, but I missed it. To Salmon: Some forms of elegance, like Alorael's coding one, probably can be defined objectively. But if others are in the eye of the beholder, so what? I am speaking of 'function' in the sense of a thing that a product can do, and products are mostly made to do things for people. If people find something elegant, this elegance may really be doing something valuable for them, apart from just making their pupils dilate. That's the only claim, and I don't think subjectivity of elegance affects it. [ Monday, December 18, 2006 11:52: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ] -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
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? Man, ? Amazing
Member # 5755
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written Monday, December 18 2006 12:03
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Up til now you had not refined the scope of this statement. Within the realm of a specific product, Elegance, present or absent, is indeed a function. Just ask Bose. They sell elegance. -------------------- quote: Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
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written Monday, December 18 2006 12:35
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I was actually referencing the first post (the post here came before my response there), which has flowery language, often mistaken for elegance, that took me an inordinate effort to decrypt. I'm still not exactly sure what the specific question was or if it was just a general request for guidance. quote:Then it's not elegant, is it? —Alorael, who now has his daily inspiration for a new moniker. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 34
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written Monday, December 18 2006 15:30
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It's not, really. Elegance fails the vertical line rule. And besides, I've been trying to come up with a derivative and this stuff is HARD. Come ooooon, Winter Break. [ Monday, December 18, 2006 15:32: Message edited by: Robinator is a Beefcake ] -------------------- Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck. 'Spiderweb Software' anagrammmed: 'Word-bereft A**wipe' Posts: 702 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00 |
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Off With Their Heads
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written Monday, December 18 2006 18:31
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Ah, I think the original statement was intended to mean that elegance can be in itself a useful feature of a thing. If this were simply that elegance can in itself be a good thing, well, duh, but that it is useful is another statement again. I suppose that the statement is true, and I suppose that it is not obvious. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |