http://blogs.gnome.org/hughsie/2007/03/25/less-crack-today/ Blog about geeky stuff Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:38:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://blogs.gnome.org/hughsie/2007/03/25/less-crack-today/comment-page-1/#comment-63 Anonymous Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:58:21 +0000 http://blogs.gnome.org/hughsie/2007/03/25/less-crack-today/#comment-63 In shipping versions, the applet will confidently claim that there are, say, one hour and 47 minutes remaining, giving three digits of precision when we know that the estimate is nowhere near that accurate. What if you communicated with digits of precision? You might report 1:47 for a battery that you have a good history for, and just say "about 2 hours" when someone plugs in a new battery that claims to be fully charged, but that you have no profile for. The underlying model would be that you have an estimate and error bars, and you find a way in the display to communicate about the error bars: report a round number that's in the interior of the region, don't report more significant figures than you have, and add the modifier "about" if there isn't even one digit of precision. In shipping versions, the applet will confidently claim that there are, say, one hour and 47 minutes remaining, giving three digits of precision when we know that the estimate is nowhere near that accurate. What if you communicated with digits of precision? You might report 1:47 for a battery that you have a good history for, and just say “about 2 hours” when someone plugs in a new battery that claims to be fully charged, but that you have no profile for. The underlying model would be that you have an estimate and error bars, and you find a way in the display to communicate about the error bars: report a round number that's in the interior of the region, don't report more significant figures than you have, and add the modifier “about” if there isn't even one digit of precision.

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