I’ve been using [Rails][], the hot new web programming framework from the guys over at [37Signals][37] for most of my current programming projects, including the super-secret tool I’m building now. I’m not sure whether to call it unfortunate or fortunate, but in subscribing to the Rails methodology I seem to also have succumbed to a hive-mind of sorts: my current project seems very similar in scope to their [Backpack][bp] web tool, to a degree that I spent a little time this afternoon despairing that I should abandon this project and start on something ‘more original’.
Thankfully, my higher reasoning faculties won over and I realized that while [Backpack][bp] serves an important niche, it’s only part of personal information management. As I’ve learned more about how my ADD affects me, for example, and also watched how people deal with ever-increasing amounts of information available at their fingertips, I realized there are two main tasks inherent in the process of assimilating new information into one’s life. The first is __processing__, the initial evaluation of incoming information. At this stage, the most improvement can be made by streamlining how information comes in and the methods by which it is initially reviewed. The second stage, which Backpack appears to serve, is __storage__, organizing and collecting data so that it can be recalled easily when needed.
[rails]:http://rubyonrails.com/
[37]: http://37signals.com/svn/
[bp]: http://backpackit.com/
I’m working on a project to deal with the first part: processing information as it comes into our lives. Backpack can handle recall and storage, but I’ll go ahead and complete my work, and then see what can be done.
That’s not to say that I can’t borrow the apropos ideas from Backpack as they fit into the framework of ‘Pony’ (yep, that’s my project’s super-secret code name). For example, after seeing a preview image of Backpack the other day, I decided to work on a method of entering dates more humane than a series of dropdown menus or prescribed formats. Would you rather type `tomorrow at 5:30pm` or `2005/04/29 17:30 HST`? How about `2 weeks from fri`? I couldn’t find anything on Google about handling such fuzzy, natural-language time parsing in Ruby, so I’m writing it myself. Thank goodness I read a book on regular expressions a few years ago and used them extensively back when I was writing Java code. Does anyone know of something extant? Or should I keep working on mine? I’ll be releasing the code for it shortly, as soon as I feel a little more comfortable with its reliability.
The point is not to pilfer from a competitor, but to build better projects by integrating the best ideas from each. I’d be flattered to see others building upon ideas of mine, as long as it wasn’t wholesale copying. Look at Apple and Microsoft, the web and the design fashions as they shift this way and that. In the long run, users benefit from a certain level of both _innovation_ AND _imitation_. Evolutionary interfaces often provide the key to revolutionary change.
In other news, I’ve been digging dirt and lifting rocks for my day job. I’m so sore.
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