One quibble about an example of "Good Human Engineering":
The Modern MiniVan
- Cup Holders Galore!
Given the rest of the presentation, this example seems out of place.
Several years ago, I read an article about the difficulties European car manufacturers had in selling their products in the U.S. One example given was the problem caused by the reluctance of Volvo's engineers to add cup holders to their cars. The engineers felt that adding the cup holders would encourage drivers to drink while driving, which could lead to distraction (a dangerous condition). So in this respect I think the cup holders belong in the "Bad Engineering" section.
It seems to me that a designer concerned with making a language which would minimize errors should not add any feature which could encourage unsafe behavior, even if that feature is beloved by programmers in other languages. (To stretch a point here, one might say C is a language with cup holders.)
|