[self-interest] Re: Kansas (fwd)

Albertina Lourenci lourenci at lsi.usp.br
Fri Nov 13 12:59:45 UTC 1998



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 20:29:46 -0800
From: David Ungar <David.Ungar at Eng.Sun.COM>
To: Randy Smith <Randall.Smith at Eng.Sun.COM>, randall.smith at Sun.COM,
    mario.wolczko at Sun.COM, david.ungar at Sun.COM, lourenci at lsi.usp.br
Subject: Re: Kansas (fwd)

Albertina,

Hi! Well, Randy said it far better than I ever could.
To paraphrase a joke from an American TV show:
"It's a dessert topping! No, it's a floor wax! Hey.....it's both!!!"

- Dave


At 11:09 AM -0800 11/12/98, Randy Smith wrote:
>Albertina --
>
>Well the question seems to be if Kansas is a multi-user programmable
>virtual reality or a graphical interface.
>
>I would say it is both, and here's why:
>
>It is a graphical interface in that every object in the system can be
>viewed as an object for direct manipulation.
>
>It is also a multi-user programmable virtual reality: As you know, Self
>is a fully general first class programming language in which everything
>is an object, including, for example, collections and numbers.  (In this
>regard, it is more object-oriented than Java, say, which has non-object
>data such as Java integers and classes.) Kansas is the environment for
>working with Self, and it is written in Self. Since even the rules of
>arithmetic can be changed as it runs, Kansas is a fully programmable
>world, supporting multiple simultaneous users.
>
>The only argument might come from someone who defines Virtual Reality as
>necessarily 3D. Kansas is a 2D space, although much larger than a single
>screen's worth of space. For some it would *not* qualify as VR without
>being a large *3D* space. For a few, a system must be 3D AND have a
>head-mounted display to be VR.
>
>Hope that helps.
>
>	--Randy
>
>
>
>
>
>> From lourenci at lsi.usp.br Thu Nov 12 10:50 PST 1998
>> Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 16:54:09 -0200 (EDT)
>> From: Albertina Lourenci <lourenci at lsi.usp.br>
>> To: randall.smith at Sun.COM, mario.wolczko at Sun.COM, david.ungar at Sun.COM
>> Subject: Kansas (fwd)
>> MIME-Version: 1.0
>>
>> Dear RAndy, Mario and Dave:
>>
>>                   First of all I want to congratulate you for having
>> created such a beautiful language as Self. I am  developing a knowledge
>> based systems in Self with the Jecel's help.
>>                    I would be very happy if you make your best to answer
>> this question because people from Third World countries can feel how
>> serious researchers from First World countries are. I mean I need this
>> answer to give continuity to my studies. It will help the outdated people
>> from the financing agency FAPESP in Brazil to understand that I am not
>> that kind of person who hears of a language in unspecialized magazines
>> and create my own usage of the words.
>>
>>
>>                  Thank you very much for your kind attention.
>>
>> Best wishes
>>
>> Albertina Lourenci
>>
>> PhD in Architecture and Urbanism USP
>>
>> post-doctorate student Laboratory for Integrated Systems USP
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 16:46:28 -0200 (EDT)
>> From: Albertina Lourenci <lourenci at lsi.usp.br>
>> To: self-interest at egroups.com
>> Subject: Kansas
>>
>>
>> During the oral presentation of my PHD thesis on 10 November  I was
>> questioned by a young researcher in computer graphics if Kansas was
>> indeed a multi-user programmable virtual reality. He suggested it
>> was rather a graphical interface. I would be extremely happy if the
>> authors of the paper RAndall Smith, Mario Wolczko and David Ungar
>> answer this question. This was stated in the paper Thrown from Kansas
>> to OZ Collaborative debugging when a shared world breaks in CACM April
>> 1997. Of course anyone else can join the dialogue.
>>
>> Albertina lourenci
>>
>> PhD in Architecture and Urbanism
>>
>> post-doctorate student at Laboratory for Integrated Systems USP
>>
>>
>>
>>

    - Dave

    David Ungar
    Sun Microsystems Laboratories
    (650) 336-2618

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