[shermantanktop]

In other words, prepare for maximum surprise? As a defensive posture in a hostile or random environment, that makes sense.

But as a design approach, most designs go for the “principle of least surprise.”

And that’s how I read the original comment: a well designed system wouldn’t do this. Joke is on them, though, because nobody designed this.

[ablob]

Surprise is also based on convention. What could be surprising to you might be just a stroll in the park for others. In Japan people would be surprised to see others wearing shoes in a house while it's perfectly normal for people of other countries. Reading the manual is something to prevent surprises and only takes one sentence to explain. I'd go for that any day of the week!

> ... a well designed system wouldn’t do this. ...

A well designed system would be able to explain their decisions and document that somewhere. Perhaps in the manual.

[shermantanktop]

A well-documented system would explain all decisions. A well-designed system would enable the user to learn a small set of principles and apply them in adjacent areas successfully without reference to documementation.

As you say, I am used to checking the docs in Linux. It’s the convention that no convention shall be assumed. Is that good design?