On Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:47
3 -0500, Char Jackson wrote:
> On Wed, 28 Jul 2010 1427 -0700, "Gene E. Bloch"
> <not-me@other.invalid> wrote:
>
>>On Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:439 -0500, Char Jackson wrote:
>>
>>> On Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:14:17 -0700, "Gene E. Bloch"
>>> <not-me@other.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Wed, 28 Jul 2010 08:458 -0400, Dave "Crash" Dummy wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Joe Morris wrote:
>>>>>> <rfdjr1@optonline.net> wrote:
>>>>>>> "Panic" <wrong@cox.net> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I didn't like the way Control Panel displays. I found that it opened in
>>>>>>>> Category View and I liked the old way where you could view each item
>>>>>>>> separately. Near the upper right there is a little View By window. If it
>>>>>>>> says Category View click on the arrow head on the right and choose Large
>>>>>>>> Icons or Small Icons. Yay! Now it looks the way I'm used to and is
>>>>>>>> easier
>>>>>>>> for me to use.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Wow, thanks for that! I didn't like the way it opened up either.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Has anyone found a way to make Windows 7 sort the control panel names in
>>>>>> columns instead of rows when in "icon" mode, other than by making the window
>>>>>> so narrow that it has only one column?
>>>>>
>>>>> No, but if you find a way, be sure to post it!
>>>>
>>>>Actually, you'd have to rewrite the program. How are you in C++?
>>>>
>>>>The reason it sorts in rows and not in columns is that it is *much* easier
>>>>to do that in code. And it is hardly unique to Windows or even to Windows
>>>>programs.
>>>>
>>>>I've always hated sorting in rows too...
>>>
>>> I used to do some (primarily VB5/VB6) programming back in the day, and
>>> I think this is one of those classic times where my ignorance didn't
>>> serve me well, or else it saved me, depending on your perspective. I
>>> didn't realize (until now) that sorting and displaying objects into
>>> multiple columns was supposed to be more difficult than sorting and
>>> displaying those same objects into multiple rows, so to me there was
>>> no difference in the level of effort between the two.
>>>
>>> Enumerate the set of objects, sort them as desired, get their
>>> dimensions, get the dimensions of the bounding container, print. If
>>> you're sorting by columns but printing in rows, the interim data
>>> collection will look a little funky, but the end result is as
>>> expected.
>>>
>>> I'm curious as to why this is programmatically difficult? I'm quite
>>> sure I didn't break any new ground.
>>
>>Your paragraph starting "Enumerate..." answers your question (but please
>>see below).
>>
>>In other words, I meant "difficult" in comparison to just printing the list
>>in order, n items per line. Of course that requires the difficult step of
>>figuring out the value of n, or at least figuring out where the line ends
>>
>>
>>I used difficult (by implication, in contrast to where I said "much
>>easier") to mean "it requires a moment of thought and a tiny bit of
>>effort", i.e., I was (intentionally) exaggerating for irony. Or is it
>>sardonicism? I can never tell.
>>
>>I no longer quite remember (it's been a while), but I think on occasion I
>>have presented output from a program in a list sorted by column.
>>
>>It's also even easier than you said above. Say you can compute that you
>>need four columns and that there are m items. Let k = (m+3)/4. The first
>>line gets items numbered 1, k+1, 2k+1, & 3k+1. Then print 2, k+2, 2k+2, &
>>3k+2. Rinse and repeat as necessary. Be careful on the last line. This is
>>in fact a restatement of what you said above, so of course it's not really
>>easier.
>>
>>Note: I didn't debug the above
>
> Thanks, Gene. I see what you mean. Slightly more difficult in
> comparison to simple row printing, but not extremely difficult in
> practice.
>
> I'm thinking Microsoft could very easily achieve this level of
> difficulty, (after all, you and I were able to), but their focus
> groups probably never identified a desire for it.
Or they ignored them...
Nah - that couldn't happen
BTW - I mentioned earlier in this subthread that I've run into lots of
programs that sort output in rows instead of columns, but in all fairness,
I should have also mentioned that I have seen plenty of programs where the
sorting was in columns.
--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)
