[Monotone-devel] Re: user-friendly hash formats, redux

[Bruce Stephens]

Nathan Myers <address@hidden> writes:

[...]

> Aliases are good too.  To invent good aliases automatically would be
> nice.  Short, sayable and rememberable (if not "memorable") hash
> formats, though, are certainly easier to implement.  Once people
> stop being spooked by the tutorial, we'll have a better chance of
> finding somebody to implement lots of nice features.

It doesn't sound like Graydon wants to introduce features simply to
avoid frightening potential users.  

It also sounds as though it's not expected that people are actually
expected to use hashes much.  So why not change the tutorial to match
expected usage?  If that's not possible (because selectors don't
provide the required choices, presumably), then extend the selectors.

That'll still leave output in hashes, and that looks intimidating.
But changing the inputs in the tutorial so they look human would have
a big impact, I think.