thinking about...
Thursday, March 30, 2006
...the jig and the very sharp knife metaphor.
the other day we talked about jigs in seminar. it reminded me of the mantra [ i guess ] that i've heard while learning more about unix that it is an operating system made up of very specific programs that are very small and very efficient. this was kind of the way i was interpreting the idea of a jig... not exactly and in fact if i think about it too much i start to lose the analogy, but i guess i just need to write it down to figure it out... and how it relates to what i am doing... because i'm sure it does. i was thinking that as bill turned to me and said it...
this is going to be [ or already is ] rambling and more for me... so bear with me. a jig [ as i've seen them made ] is not a fetishized object while it is being made... it is only romanticized after the fact when it is hung on the wall or photographed or just 'hung onto' because it inspires wonder or curiosity or embodies mechanical beauty. in it's making it is purely and supremely functional. it makes some task easier or possible... it might be for repetitive use or for that one cut that can only be made with a customized setup. it is the 'very sharp knife' ... i think... i thought, as we sat and talked, that it was the thing that was useful for one project or a few projects, but not enough [ or for enough people ] that it could be marketed as a product. it is something that i need... that kind of goes against the VSN analogy... everyone needs a VSN or in unix, awk or sed or whatever... but maybe those are kind of exceptions... they start out as a jig and then get polished and everyone can use them... they can be customized to a certain degree, but really only do one thing.
so, for my work... i sort of feel like patches in jitter are like jigs... and so are the shell scripts that work with my gps and webcam... they are quick and easy [ if you are skilled in the basics - which incidentally i am not, but nevertheless... ] and can be customized to a certain degree... maybe actually, the VSN is just a tool to make the jig... that sounds more reasonable... speaking of jigs and making things, i should be making something right now...
the other day we talked about jigs in seminar. it reminded me of the mantra [ i guess ] that i've heard while learning more about unix that it is an operating system made up of very specific programs that are very small and very efficient. this was kind of the way i was interpreting the idea of a jig... not exactly and in fact if i think about it too much i start to lose the analogy, but i guess i just need to write it down to figure it out... and how it relates to what i am doing... because i'm sure it does. i was thinking that as bill turned to me and said it...
this is going to be [ or already is ] rambling and more for me... so bear with me. a jig [ as i've seen them made ] is not a fetishized object while it is being made... it is only romanticized after the fact when it is hung on the wall or photographed or just 'hung onto' because it inspires wonder or curiosity or embodies mechanical beauty. in it's making it is purely and supremely functional. it makes some task easier or possible... it might be for repetitive use or for that one cut that can only be made with a customized setup. it is the 'very sharp knife' ... i think... i thought, as we sat and talked, that it was the thing that was useful for one project or a few projects, but not enough [ or for enough people ] that it could be marketed as a product. it is something that i need... that kind of goes against the VSN analogy... everyone needs a VSN or in unix, awk or sed or whatever... but maybe those are kind of exceptions... they start out as a jig and then get polished and everyone can use them... they can be customized to a certain degree, but really only do one thing.
so, for my work... i sort of feel like patches in jitter are like jigs... and so are the shell scripts that work with my gps and webcam... they are quick and easy [ if you are skilled in the basics - which incidentally i am not, but nevertheless... ] and can be customized to a certain degree... maybe actually, the VSN is just a tool to make the jig... that sounds more reasonable... speaking of jigs and making things, i should be making something right now...
