Programming Under The Wizards Spell Essay Research Paper Example For Students

Programming Under The Wizards Spell Essay Research Paper Programming Under The Wizards SpellProgramming Under The Wizards SpellThe computer is a tool that has becomeindispensable to the modern family and company. In flourishing so successfullythe computer has passed from incredibly complex and unusable to anyonehow was not well versed in its intricacies, to consumer oriented and user-friendly. In Ellen Ullmans essay, Programming Under The Wizards Spell, she attemptsto convince to reader that the computer has been over simplified to thepoint of no return. The simplification of the computer made it more user-friendlyand there for more appealing to customers, this only blinded people intousing the computer the way corporate America wanted them to, using withoutunderstanding. First, this essayis a hybrid, it is a mix of the expository and comparison and contrastessay. In the first part she attempts to examine the differences betweenvarious Microsoft operating systems and the Unix operating system. Thenthe author tries to answer the question What is it ? and What isit not ? in paragraphs 3, Ullman states : Unix always presumes thatyou know what youre doing. and in referring to Microsoft she statesit as: Consumer-oriented, idiot-proofed, covered by its pretty skin oficons and dialog boxes . She has tactfully drawn the boundaries betweenthe two products which start to take one the appearance of the good andthe corporate induced bad. Ullman has now inferred her goal, she wishesto convince the reader of her convictions of the new computerised corporateAmerica. Also, she uses simple wording, narration and a somewhat comicanecdote of her experiences, effectively leading the reader into drawingnegative conclusions about the new consumer oriented computer. She doe snot truly attempt to be objective but gives that illusion by shortly statingin the first paragraph: a reasonable, professional choice in a worldwhere Microsoft platforms are everywhere. This was a reasonably goodstatement that inspires in the reader to believe that Ellen Ullman is wayingthe good and the bad. Further more,once finished, the reader can only conclude that there where so many morebad things than good things about Microsoft that it most likely a bad producthinged on reducing our computing freedom. This conclusion is of coursethe only one possible to anyone how reads the essay. she made it this waybut without actually expressing this opinion herself, she is merle tellinga story littered with an unfavourable tone that seeped out of the textby her choice of wording: My computer. Ive always hated this icon. Ullman infintilizes windows in order to ridicule it in order to furtherconvince the reader of the negativity of these sorts of programs. Ullmanspurpose in writing her essay was to warn the reader of the dangers thatmay insue from the over simplification of such a complex machine, the titleshe chose conveys her convictions well. But as she explains her misfortuneswith Windows she makes usage of certain terms and expression that not justany one can understand, she wrote this essay for an audience of otherssuch computer fans that she trys to convince of the perils of forgettinghow a computer really works, not just how the operating system works. In conclusions,Ellen Ullmans ultimate goal was that Corporate America saw the complexcomputer as a wild beast inaccessible to most, so they tinkered with tofinally made it the new user-friendly computer system, mans new best friend. But in doing so they destroyed its instincts. Her vision of the industryis most obviously a personal one and through her essay she ultimately succeedsin persuading the reader that her convictions are almost fact. This isa good example of how ones opinions can be successfully diffused to others.