CSC/ECE 517 Fall 2007/wiki2 9 NT

Principle of Least Astonishment. Write a guide to the Web pages on the Principle of Least Astonishment. Which should the reader look at for easy-to-understand examples? Which give a feel for where the principle should be used? Is this principle present in fields other than programming? Is the term used consistently in other disciplines?

What is 'Principle of Least Astonishment'?

Principle of Least Astonishment, as its name suggests, states that in case of an ambiguity or a conflict in the system, the behavior of the system should be the one which will least surprise the user. In other words, principle of least astonishment asserts that the system will not cause any astonishment, or cause the least astonishment for the users by making the system as consistent and predictable -therefore usable- as possible. In computer science, this principle has a wide range of usage in topics such as human-computer interaction, user-interface design, programming language design, and programming. This principle is used in various disciples as well as computer science such as ... which are mentioned later in this wiki. After this brief information about the principle of least astonishment, now we are going to talk more about the sources found online about this topic and how well they explore the topic.

Examples

Hi.

Least Astonishment in Other Disciplines

A lighter side to the application of intuition is the so-called Principle of Minimum Astonishment, which is often mentioned in fun by scientists. It means that when controversy arises in science, the view that agrees best with one's intuitive evaluation of the situation is probably correct. The "principle" is really an admonition to rely on one's intuition. At first this principle seems contrary to the quest for surprising discovery that is the focus of this book, but it is not. The trick is to break with convention, not necessarily with intuition. Most new discoveries are not so much counter to good intuition as they are counter to "conventional wisdom" of the science at the time. Plate tectonics, for example, did not counter intuition so much as it did conventional belief.

So in steering a course through the world of science and making the subjective decisions and judgments that affect that course, use some intuition. Intuition has led to many discoveries in the past and will surely lead to many in the future. How do I know? It's easy. I can feel it in my bones!

Examples

Hi.

Refrences

• "The Incomplete Guide to the Art of Discovery" by Jack E. Oliver

External links

• "Applying the Rule of Least Surprise" from The Art of Unix Programming by E.S. Raymond
• "Applying the Rule of Least Surprise in webpages"