> Conspicuously absent from the PL list (Python)

Well, I did modify Seth Nickell's gnome-blog ([link|http://www.gnome.org/~seth/gnome-blog/|http://www.gnome.org/~seth/gnome-blog/]) to my needs some time ago, which is written in Python. It's a good language; I still feel more turned on by C ... preference maybe.

> Most software development is about (a) good ideas to solve an itch; (b) meticulous reasoning; and (c) dealing with frustration when points a & b go incendiary - i.e. patience. Beyond that, you'd have to be more specific about the nature and breadth of the particular program you are trying to design.

That sounds most interesting.

Let me give you a brief explanation of what I want to do. The specific itch this is supposed to scratch is the level of computer-illiteracy in my family, plus my own habits in using a computer (which are a little wierd). Since pictures say more than words, here's a picture of a prototype I tried to build recently:

[link|http://www.schwarzschmid.de/photoalbum/albums/computerstuff/aac.png|http://www.schwarzsc...uterstuff/aac.png]

So now I'll probably get flamed since I was talking about a user interface all the time, of which there are so many already :-). This prototype is actually in use right now by my grandmother (she's been using WindowMaker up until now), and she likes it. "Finally I don't have to mess with these 'windows' I never understood anymore". As you can clearly see from the screenshot, there's only one window open at a time.

Challenges include:
* Make it possible for the user to put every "thing" (s)he sees as a bookmark into the bookmarks list.
* Have the interface revolve around a historic metaphor, i.e., the "Back" and "Forward" buttons work reliable, all the time.
* Implement a system that allows other people to have their applications interact with this environment. For example, I believe the interface should never disturb the user, so there shan't be any "blocking" dialogs. Instead I'd like to have speech bubbles "coming out" from somewhere in the empty space above the Help button.
* Have the damn clock work (do I need threads for this? How do threads work? (This is probably a rather easy "challenge", since it'll be solved with a little research and programming)

Note the idea for this has been conceived in 1999 already, so there hasn't been any Longhorn around back then. I had it in my mind for about two years, before in 2001 I decided to learn programming myself.

Back to your points.

a) There's an itch
c) There's been patience and I'm willing to show more patience

I'm a little unsure as to what you mean by point (b). Do you mean reasoning regarding design descisions?

I think my main problem is that I have to design an entire system (with all the merits, like having its own live and all) instead of an application. There's so many things to consider. One right descision here could jeopardize something entirely different there. Could as well be wrong with that assumption though.

From what I understand from boxley's post above, do you mean I should just get started and not care too much?

Sorry for my using "thing" so often; I haven't been in an English-speaking country for quite a while.

Thanks!

- Raphael