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> Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 09:55:52 +1100
> From: charles.brooking@cisra.canon.com.au
> To: jonathan.robie@datadirect.com
> CC: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
> Subject: Re: [xml-dev] The Rule of Least Power - does it miss the point?
>
> Aside from everything else, I think a title such "The Rule of Most
> Easily Analysed" as would attract zero interest or controversy. :-)
>
I'm sure this comes across as a bit snarky, but the only way I can understand this "Rule" is by applying my training in Political Science, not Computer Science. This is a classic example of a single decision with multiple rationales, none of which by itself is compelling but the sum total is easier for the group to accept than oppose. (A bit like Fearless Leader's decisions vis a vis Iraq ---no single rationale for invasion holds water, but collectively it was minimally satisfactory to people who really did believe there were WMDs, those who really believed there was an al Qaeda link, those who really believed the neocon theory about stabilizing the region thru democracy, those who wanted to finish the job that George Sr. started, and all sorts of unsavory reasons I'm sure)
In the TAG's case, the Rule of Least Power minimally satisfies:
- Those who just think that "Occam's Razor applies to computers", as Henry T. put it, and recommend erring on the side of simplicity as a general rule
- Those who seem to dislike the AJAX stuff and want an authoritative reason not to take it farther than it already has
- Those who sincerely believe that one can declaratively analyze a web app to prove that it does what it is supposed to do
- Those who want to rationalize the Worse is Better dynamic that has given us the Web as we know it
- etc.
Given the case of characters, there's probably a "somehow advance the Semantic Web" rationale that I can't think of :-)
Usual disclaimer about who I'm NOT speaking for, blah blah.
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