[GRASS5] Initial window state

[Moritz Lennert]

On Fri, Jul 19, 2002 at 05:29:24AM -0600, Roger Miller wrote:
> On Friday 19 July 2002 01:41, Radim Blazek wrote:
> 
> > What about warning:
> > > d.rast map=x
> >
> > WARNING: Map 'x' is outside the current region, try 'g.region rast=x'
> 
> Radim,
> 
> I think that's at least a step in the right direction and probably a good 
> addition to d.rast, d.vect.* and d.sites.
> 
> Even though I do like this idea, I would prefer to go the next step.  By 
> itself this idea identifies a problem without actually solving it.  Solving 
> the problem for the specific case of initialization would require very little 
> more work.  In fact, I think that adding just the initialization check might 
> take less code and I'm sure it would impose less startup overhead. 
> 
> I think users -- new users in particular -- would probably prefer to have 
> GRASS fix the problem itself rather than requiring them to perform a second 
> command then repeating their first command just to get an image displayed.
> 

As a user, I found GRASS very difficult to get going with, and one of the reasons was the region settings. However, I also found that GRASS was the only program that forced me to think about regions and projections, and I like that. Before, I used ArcView and created maps without ever thinking about the (sometimes quite important) issue of projection. Therefore, I find the way GRASS does things quite important on a pedagogical level, and would find it regrettable if GRASS let the user ignore some of the most fundamental questions in cartography.

But I do sympathize with the idea of not "scaring" new users away. In that sense I like Radim's idea.


Moritz
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