The single most important paper for programming language designers to read came out in 2000. It wasn’t written by a computer scientist, mathematician, or physical scientist. It was written by a couple of professors studying psychology and marketing: “When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire too Much of a Good Thing?” Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 995-1006. (2000).
Monthly Archives: August 2014
No, they’re NOT all doing it.
In polite conversation, when the topic turns to politics and the antics of one party or the other, complaints are aired, and then someone says “they all are doing it.” Everyone then sagely nods their heads and the conversation shifts to something less confrontational. This drives me crazy.