

Ideas for Computing - samsquire
https://github.com/samsquire/ideas
I&#x27;ve been writing my ideas down for years. This is a 100 ideas forming an idea of how computers could be.
======
Erwin
This reminds of this:
[http://www.squidi.net/three/](http://www.squidi.net/three/) which attempts to
define a large number of computer game gameplay mechanics.

Maybe we need more forwarding-reaching fiction in our world. More essays on
computing futurology, grand envisioning of what we can achieve with software.
Even ambitious prototypes of a new way to do something (like Lighttable)

A lot of what I see are tooling details, lot of boring effort duplication on
mostly-identical languages and lot of nitpicking/bikeshedding comments like:
well, you may have a good idea for solving world cancer, but your article does
not work in my weird mobile browser, so your credibility is shot.

Where's our version of "The Mother of all Demos" ?

~~~
sparkie
The problem is most modern computing is driven by the single question: "How
can I monetize this idea?" It's only hobbyists and academics that really try
to improve the state of computing, rather than having a primary focus on
revenue. It's unfortunate that groundbreaking ideas are usually not the
moneymakers, else we'd see innovation at a quicker rate.

Software patents are another hindrance to innovation too. Often the results of
some publicly funded research are patented, and never actually made into end
products, and the public has no rights to use the invention funded with their
tax money. I'd bet a dozen or more of those hundred ideas are already covered
in part by some patents that aren't used in any real products, but serve only
to prevent anyone else from developing them.

I can't really see most people being so open about ideas as the author of this
article precisely because innovative ideas people have will also come with the
idea of monetizing it, with the belief that they need a patent to do so.

What's more of a shame, is a list like this 100 ideas, doesn't serve to
prevent anyone from patenting an implementation of such idea, despite it
already being published. Articles like these do not serve as 'prior art' when
considering patent applications.

Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if anyone who developed an idea could patent it,
but little guys, hobbyists and academics can't afford to without outside
funding, whilst the wealthy corporations whose primary motive is profit can
patent ideas by the dozen.

~~~
samsquire
Author of the article here.

If everyone monetized everything our industry would collapse.

It's a balance. Innovation and monetization are different beasts. Some ideas
are so awesome they just have to be shared. Techies are smart enough to think
bigger if they really wanted and make computing better. I hope my example sets
a precedent.

Sharing your idea may make technology better than if you kept it secret.

~~~
sparkie
I agree about the need for sharing, it's disappointing that those with profit
driven motivation can ruin it for us though. Anyone with plenty of money could
take one of your brief idea descriptions, implement the basic idea and apply
for a patent on the idea - preventing you from using your own idea in future
even. Those small descriptions do not serve as prior art in the US patent
system. Putting ideas out there like you've done should automatically put them
in the public domain, and void any later attempt for overly broad patents to
cover the same ideas.

I put many of my own ideas out there, usually in discussion threads though, as
I'm not a blogger. There's some overlap between ideas I've had myself and your
own ideas, such as the package-manager for package-managers, I've discussed
several times and experimented with implementation. It just demonstrates
further that ideas that are ready for introduction aren't "inventions" at all:
they're inevitable next stages of the evolution of ideas. Yet someone who has
the money can claim they invented it, and use the legal system to prevent
everyone else using it.

~~~
samsquire
The HN community could form an idea hub to host and protect ideas and monetize
them as products to fund further ideas and products.

~~~
sparkie
Interesting proposition, but do you have any idea how this could actually
work? Where would funding come from initially? Would this be a for-profit or
non-profit organization? How would we reach a consensus on anything, given the
diversity of the community and other communities? How would we protect ideas,
other than developing them? (since this can already be done by anyone, given
the resources).

I can't picture how we could create such system in a society built around the
complete opposite, where the government backs corporations and fails to
acknowledge the innovations of individuals, unless they pay for it.

On a side note, I have many ideas that I've not released, not because I'm
worried about someone stealing them, but because they're so far outside any
mainstream convention that I'd be seen as a raving lunatic by many if I
published them.

~~~
sigkill
>On a side note, I have many ideas that I've not released, not because I'm
worried about someone stealing them, but because they're so far outside any
mainstream convention that I'd be seen as a raving lunatic by many if I
published them.

This is a very good reason for why your idea _should_ be put up for everyone
to see. No, I don't mean that they should think you're a lunatic, but because
of how awesome it would be if someone just picks up the tiniest bit and
develops it.

~~~
rasur
To go further, a lot of the worlds good ideas (and their
inventors/discoverers) have been thought of as lunatic at some point in their
existence. It's _almost_ a prerequisite! ;)

------
unimpressive
I've thought of some of these independently. (It's good to see somebody else
did too.) We could probably make more progress if we all kept a list like this
publicly. Or even privately, with snippets shared where appropriate. I know if
I went through some old journals I could scrounge up a decent list myself.

One I had:

Bash scripting in the style of hypercard.

Hypercard was described to me as a system that had a set of functions and let
the user make programs out of them. Bash syntax is simple enough that making
an interface that gives you the power of shell without degenerating from the
original should be possible. The output should be a regular text based bash
script, allowing others to edit without the program and the user to see what's
going on underneath.

EDIT: A second idea to go with the first:

A utility that allows you to create a GUI window from the command line. This
could be used in conjunction with the Bash script editor to make graphical
programs that the user can easily incorporate into their (presumably window
based) workflow.

~~~
salgernon
Check out NeWS, circa 1990. Or Arthur Van Hoffs HyperNeWs around the same
time.

Edit: or Apples MPW shell back in the late 80s had a posixy set of command
line tools that came with a shell called "commando". When invoked, it
presented a dialog of all the tools options and constructed the command line
from your choices. Kind if like training wheels, and it was smart enough to
disable conflicting options, or to prompt for paths as appropriate. It showed
the command syntax being built up. Eventually, I think it made its way to a/ux
in 1992 or so.

~~~
SupremumLimit
I guess the interesting question is, why aren't similar things popular today?
I'm guessing the apps you mentioned didn't really become popular in their day
either.

------
igravious
This a well of useful and thought-provoking ideas.

I would like to point out a general theme though. A lot of these ideas seem
most relevant to technical savvy people and I think why a lot of them
(especially UI stuff) have not been implemented is because interfaces must
cater to everybody.

Perhaps what we need more of is a dev mode switch (s/w or h/w) like the
Chromebook has which enables a lot of these ideas so that the ordinary user is
not overwhelmed.

Some of the ideas in the list are aimed at a general audience though. So
perhaps each entry in the list needs to make a note of who the target audience
is.

~~~
DonaldDerek
I'm with you, but users must be educated and they will adapt, take as an
example the touch revolution. Even old people adapted to this change.

------
microcolonel
A lot of these are already done, like command autocomplete.

Many show a lack of vision, why are we thinking about putting buttons and
windows all over the place, adding complex nonstandard headers willy-nilly to
our emails when we could be thinking about important things like indexing the
vast power of existing UNIX tools in a voice-controlled environment?

~~~
jamii
Why voice controlled? I can type all day but speaking for an hour leaves me
hoarse.

~~~
jfb
And why Unix tools?

------
jfb
One thing I've wanted for years is a small, pocket-sized and battery operated
blob of storage with a well-defined API, where all of my data lives. Not the
cloud, because no, thank you; and not an external drive. I want something that
my phone, my laptop, my TV, my workstation can use as a canonical data storage
location for everything in my life.

Ideally this would have a fast radio, so I could just leave it in my bag while
I'm walking around listening to music on my phone; and a high-speed physical
connection so I can plug it in if necessary.

------
ChuckMcM
One I keep noodling on is the one 'Ethical Me' which, on its face works well
for ethics but it works for other things as well. Like documenting things you
bought because they were 'more secure' or 'higher quality' etc. Understanding
the meta-data of what is security 'worth' or quality 'worth' would really help
inform product managers about whether or not investing resources there makes
sense from a product desirability standpoint.

------
txutxu
I've like many of the ideas. Inspiring. +1

I don't understand very well how would you like to implement the "93 Shell
Output Pinning". Usually I do that with an array variable.

~~~
sparkie
Perhaps it would be linked with variables, similar to how graphical debuggers
can give you a "variables" window which shows variables in scope, and the
ability to filter such variables. I suppose the idea is to extend the terminal
to be more debugger/IDE like.

------
markm208
I am working with some students of mine on something like 89, 'Code Journeys'.
We call it Storyteller.

[http://www.storytellersoftware.com](http://www.storytellersoftware.com)

It allows one to comment on the evolution of code rather than on individual
sections of it. Currently, there is not a good place to write down why things
have evolved the way they did. There is a search/filtering interface to find
only the interesting bits of history.

------
maged
The added features of email metadata can be achieved without the added
complexities of adding metadata to all email, with a simple NLP solution.
Gmail already does this with date recognition and google calendar integration,
as well as the new email 'categories.' It'll be cool to see it expand so any
application can take advantage of it (i.e. key management software and joining
a new website).

~~~
grinich

        simple NLP solution
    

famous last words.

------
yannis
No. 36 Reminds me of Knuth's literate programming, which I attribute as the
major reason for the continuing success of TeX/LaTeX. It needs a major
rethink/revamp to move it on to the full spectrum of computer languages (what
is available in python or haskell) is not fully satisfactory and has not
really caught on.

------
thisisrobv
I had high hopes for this and was immediately turned off by #3. I still can't
believe that their are developers who believe that design is just the pretty
layer on top of their functioning infrastructure. It's not.

That said, I wish there was a site that connected people with complementary
skill sets around similar product ideas.

~~~
samsquire
The idea is to connect someone who has created something technical and useful
in concept with someone who can create a wonderful user experience out of it.
These are not always the same people.

~~~
aroman
I think what he's saying (and I tend to agree) is that you can't develop the
technical side in isolation from the actual design. Design is much more than
appearance -- it determines how your site works, how parts interact, and can
very often give immense direction to the backend.

I agree with your idea (#3) but only as the reverse -- imagine a website of
"ideas" and mockups waiting for people to implement them. I believe great apps
start with design, not with a backend. (Of course you can write them in either
order -- the point is to have considered and drafted a design before starting
on the backend).

------
nathanathan
There's an idea I've been thinking about in the vein of the "create this" and
api competition ideas (and the repo itself I suppose). I've found that on
Stack Overflow questions of the form "Is there software that does x, y and x?"
will often get locked. However, I think a site like SO for finding software
could be really useful. And when you don't find it you've just identified a
niche that hasn't been filled that someone could come along and make software
for. It would be possible for developers to gauge demand by the number of up-
votes/bounties a post gets. It could use many of the same mechanisms from SO
like voting/comments/reputation/merging related posts, but perhaps adding some
structured ways to describe ideas would facilitate better searching.

------
beech
I'm working on something similar to #73. Web Of Trust Recommendations at
[http://reqqi.com/](http://reqqi.com/)

I also keep a spreadsheet of ideas that I'm probably never going to work on,
this might have inspired me to publish my own list.

Also, if anyone is interested, Reqqi is hiring

------
dsego
Well, number 9 already exists in some form on OS X. You can't drag because it
drags the window, but if you click on the file name in the title you get a
dialog with some file options (rename, move, duplicate, ...).

~~~
danabramov
You can't drag the title, but you can drag the icon.

~~~
thousande
Right click icon or title for folder path Choosing a folder in the path opens
that folder in finder

------
quasque
The email metadata idea reminds me of EDIFACT, or at least what it was
intended for - a standard electronic format for commercial transactions. It
predates the WWW though, so looks quite 'ugly' by today's standard of using
markup language to describe data. However I think it would be a good starting
point for coming up with a broadly applicable data schema.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDIFACT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDIFACT)

------
miguelrochefort
I came up with most of these ideas independently. If you look at them, you'll
realize that most share the same patterns, and actually are similar ideas.

I'm currently working on something that superficially looks like #4, but
includes at least 20% (potentially more) of these ideas (or make them
obsolete).

Most of them are trivial, and I'm sure much of us didn't get anything new from
this list. Heck, I could come up with 50 more just like that (but maybe not
that related to programming).

------
aroman
#87 "Interface Coalescing" is precisely implemented across OS X, notably the
Finder for file I/O.

Also, you spelled "Coalescing" wrong :)

~~~
samsquire
Thanks, fixed.

Do you know if it has an API? It would be nice if it was a standard piece of
architecture available on the desktop environment without creating completely
dedicated dialogs. There would be some way to define how interfaces are to be
merged.

------
jitnut
Loved the idea of EmailMetaData. I was thinking on similar lines on creating a
smarter email system for businesses.

~~~
tiziano88
would it be something like this:
[https://developers.google.com/gmail/schemas/](https://developers.google.com/gmail/schemas/)
?

~~~
troels
Clever! If an email is sent as html, it is obvious that microformats could be
imbedded, just as they can be on web pages. Hadn't thought about that before.

------
salgernon
I'm waiting for the sparrowOS guy to comment on this thread. Despite his hell-
banned status, I've been impressed with what he as an individual has come up
with. He seems likely to have implemented many of these features for his
edification.

------
Mindless2112
#64 Peer to Peer Backup is almost met by DataHaven.NET [1], the drawback being
that it uses a central server to keep track of virtual credits.

[1] [http://datahaven.net/](http://datahaven.net/)

------
jnazario
on the Package Manager-Package Manager front (idea 12), i bet you could
bastardize chef to do this. it already has the translation layer for multiple
package managers (yum, apt, pkg-add, etc).

~~~
davidgerard
Every application develops until it contains a sketchy rewrite of apt-get. Not
just languages - WordPress and MediaWiki are going that way too. We really
need a bunch of standard interfaces to package management.

------
14113
I find 54 particularly interesting, a site with detailed overviews of
different stacks, along with instructions, or links to instructions on how to
get started would be very valuable.

------
freework
The email metadata idea looks a little like this:
[https://github.com/priestc/LibraryDSS](https://github.com/priestc/LibraryDSS)

------
oliver_FF
"8\. Command Auto-complete" This would be awesome.

~~~
tsahyt
Doesn't bash already do something vaguely similar though? I noticed it can
complete flags and options now. zsh has been capable of this for a long time
too.

It doesn't convert between long and short options or sort arguments but it
does help you by offering the completion which means less typing and slightly
less memorization.

~~~
oliver_FF
Sure, but it would be great if it went a little further: "... and/or provides
a documentation panel for that argument". Having a one-liner to explain what
ls's `--dired` does without having to drop down to a new line and look it up
would be great, displaying the first sentence of the relevant section of the
man page could be enough?

~~~
rjwebb
Doesn't zsh do something like this? At the very least, it seems to be
extensible enough that you could provide completion+manpage documentation if
you wanted to.

~~~
Wilya
Zsh certainly does something like this.

Here's what my autocompletion looks like: [http://leukensis.org/files/zsh-
autocomplete.png](http://leukensis.org/files/zsh-autocomplete.png)

The program has to provide its autocomplete files, but it's very powerful. My
'kill' autocompletes with a ps-like output, for example.

~~~
samsquire
Does zsh support matching long and arguments? That's what I want. A bit like
fish
([http://fishshell.com/assets/img/screenshots/man_completions....](http://fishshell.com/assets/img/screenshots/man_completions.png))
and finalterm which others have mentioned.

------
pietro
Number 22 is more or less how Windows PowerShell works.

~~~
microcolonel
There are also lots of native UNIX Scheme-evaluating shells, shells done in
dynamic language environments like Python, Ruby etc...

------
alexjeffrey
some of these are really interesting ideas. I have one to add to the mix: go
implement them! As technologists we all have unprecedented power to create
change at our fingertips and I'd love it if you could come back with a list of
great ideas, _with some of them implemented already_.

[note] the biggest one for me is the "life engine" \- I would happily pay you
£50/month for this!

~~~
jamii
The Locker Project ([http://lockerproject.org/](http://lockerproject.org/))
was a good stab at this. Seems to be abandoned now though
([https://github.com/LockerProject/](https://github.com/LockerProject/) \-
last update 9 months ago).

------
pknerd
#54 sounds cool. How about doing something similar for comparing Enterprise
Systems/Applications?

Anyone to join hands with me?

~~~
ville
There was a Show HN post a while ago for this kind of website:
[http://leanstack.io/cloud-stacks/](http://leanstack.io/cloud-stacks/)
(discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5736155](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5736155))

------
lifeisstillgood
I like #4 - life dashboard.

I don't quite know how but these will have to go on the occasional tinkering
list.

------
jlgarhdez
Number 8 already exists with fish shell. It indexes the man pages as you have
suggested.

~~~
rythie
Also, bash already has a hook to do these types of completions:
[http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/316](http://www.debian-
administration.org/articles/316)

------
achille
😡🍋

------
lambda
Meh. A lot of these sound like those ideas that any programmer comes up with,
about what would be great, without ever actually putting the sweat in to turn
a vague idea into something that actually works.

I have probably as many half-baked schemes in the back of my mind. We probably
all do. Why is this list particularly interesting?

Heck, lots of these ideas sound downright bad. Adding operations for "put in
new folder" and "pull out of folder"? Don't we already have plenty of ways to
do this? A basic set of primitives (create new folder, move files to folder,
whether done through the UI or on the command line), allows you to compose
those simple actions into the more complex ones, rather than having some giant
menu of everything you could ever possibly want to do with files that you need
to navigate through.

I'm just not sure what the value of long lists of vague, half-baked features
ideas for random software is. Why not actually build one or two of these? That
would be far more interesting.

~~~
gdubs
A lot of ideas start out half-baked, in brainstorming sessions, etc. Even if
you don't like the ideas here, judging from other comments it's at least
thought-provoking. And this person basically opened up their private journal
of ideas for anyone to look at.

