DConf 2013 keynote

[Walter Bright]

On 5/10/2013 4:09 AM, deadalnix wrote:
> One of them is the plane metaphor. I now know that Walter is a big fan of plane
> (and he knows quite a lot about that !) but the problem is that the point is
> very subjective (the plane want to fly).

It's not that subjective. An airplane that "wants to fly" is well known among 
airplane designers and pilots. All you have to do is point it down the runway 
and open the throttle. It will take off and fly straight and level without any 
hands on the controls. An airplane can also endure grevious damage, and still fly.

A helicopter, on the other hand, wants to crash. It requires constant active 
efforts to keep it in the air, and if much of anything goes wrong, it will crash 
and kill you.

Have you ever driven a high performance car that "wants to go"? I have. The car 
clearly isn't happy being driven slowly and gently. It's only happy when your 
right foot is mashed all the way down :-)