3 articles tagged ‘Messages’
- Clang compiler: Remarkable spell-checker
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The Clang compiler recovers from unknown tokens using a spell-checker. Something small can be remarkable and worth spreading.
Being remarkable doesn’t always mean you have to develop something large. Sometimes remarkable is small, as this Clang example seen today on Hacker News demonstrates very nicely.
Clang is an open-source compiler front-end for C, C++ and Objective C. The project builds on the LLVM compiler back-end with the goal of replacing the GCC tool chain. Their worldview accepts that programmers can and do make mistakes. Amazing feats of Clang Error Recovery shows how they’ve woven this worldview into the compiler.
What caught my eye was how Clang recovers from unknown tokens. Instead of unhelpful error messages (like GCC), the Clang team chose to do something remarkable: they added a spell-checker to guess what you mean:
- Spreading stories: Distinguish and cherish VIP users
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Identify returning users as VIPs: those most likely to spread your story. Treating everyone the same is easy, but they deserve better.
Existing users are more likely to recommend you than new one, so don’t treat everyone the same. Existing and new users have different expectations, even though they share a common worldview.
A chainsaw cannot change itself depending on whether a newbie or an experienced lumberjack picks it up. Your software is not a physical product. It’s easy to support multiple expectations from a single code base, just as you do with i18n and L10n.
The German tax system is complex (it’s said 80% of the world’s tax laws are in German). As a result, a large vertical niche of tax return software exists.
- Deep stories: Create a tactile object
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Physical products are tactile, but software is intangible, so how do you think your audience expects it should look, feel or even smell?
Your target audience has a story about how they expect your product will make them feel. Marketers and developers must work together and meet this expectation with consistent and genuine stories woven into your software.
Physical products are tactile; you can feel them in your hands, how they move, smell and taste. Software is intangible. Even so, how do you think your audience expects your software to feel? To look? To smell? How should it look on opening the box (installing)?
Software is easier to change than physical products. Good design splits function and presentation; weaving your story into your software will be easy. Or not.
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