问题

除了打字机键盘布局,还有哪些东西当初是为降低运行效率而设计的?

回答
typewriter keyboards.

When it comes to tools and technologies, we often assume they are designed for maximum efficiency. But what if I told you some things were deliberately made to be a bit clunky, to slow us down? It sounds counterintuitive, right? But the typewriter keyboard is a prime example.

Think about it. The arrangement of letters we use today, the QWERTY layout, wasn't actually the most efficient for typing. Early typists discovered that if they hit keys too quickly, the mechanical arms of the typewriter would jam. So, instead of trying to speed things up, the layout was subtly altered. Common letter pairs, like "th" or "er," were placed far apart. This forced typists to move their fingers more, separating the actions and preventing those dreaded jams. It was a clever workaround, turning a potential bottleneck into a feature, albeit one that made typing slower than it could have been with a truly optimized layout.

But the QWERTY isn't the only instance of this kind of deliberate inefficiency. Consider early computers and their user interfaces. Before the graphical user interface (GUI) became commonplace, most interaction was through commandline interfaces (CLIs). Imagine having to remember a whole string of commands, often cryptic and casesensitive, just to open a file or run a program.

For instance, to copy a file in a Unixlike system, you might have had to type something like:

`cp /path/to/source/file.txt /path/to/destination/`

Every single character had to be precise. A typo meant the command failed. This was a far cry from the simple draganddrop or "copypaste" functionality we take for granted now. While CLIs offered immense power and flexibility to those who mastered them, for the average user, they were inherently less efficient and far more prone to error. The learning curve was steep, and the execution required a high degree of focus and memorization. It was like having to learn a new language just to operate your machine.

Another example, though perhaps less intentional in its inefficiency but certainly a consequence of early design choices, is the way software was often structured in its infancy. Many early programs were monolithic, meaning all their functionalities were bundled together into one large executable file. If you wanted to update just one small part of the program, you often had to download and reinstall the entire thing. This was incredibly inefficient from a user's perspective, requiring significant time and bandwidth for what should have been a minor change. It also made development more complex, as even small bug fixes could potentially break other parts of the application.

Think about how we download software today. We have package managers, app stores, and modular designs. Updates are often incremental, downloading only the changed components. This modern approach is a direct response to the inefficiencies of earlier software distribution and design.

Even something as seemingly straightforward as physical media for data storage can be viewed through this lens. Remember floppy disks? They had limited storage capacity and were relatively slow to read and write data. If you had a large file, you might need multiple disks, and the process of swapping them in and out was a tedious and timeconsuming affair. Compare that to today's USB drives or cloud storage, which offer vastly more space and much faster transfer speeds. The limitations of floppy disks, while a technological constraint of their time, certainly contributed to a less efficient workflow for handling larger amounts of data.

These examples, from the humble typewriter to the complex world of software, show us that sometimes, the path to progress isn't always a straight, smooth line towards maximum speed. Often, it involves understanding limitations, finding creative workarounds, and gradually evolving to overcome them. The "inefficiencies" of the past often paved the way for the streamlined experiences we have today.

网友意见

user avatar
现行的qwerty键盘布局是为了防止打字速度过快造成老式打字机机械故障而故意这么设计。除此之外,还有哪些设计是用来降低效率的?
user avatar
现行的qwerty键盘布局是为了防止打字速度过快造成老式打字机机械故障而故意这么设计。除此之外,还有哪些设计是用来降低效率的?

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