I seem to recall a term from a study course I took to become a Ham Radio operator. As I remember, one of the electronic terms from the book was used to describe a machine or device which could be competently operated, without having to know how the device itself works. I could see this being applied to cars, radio transceivers, computers…a whole bunch of modern conveniences.
Does such a term exist? Or did I imagine this up not reading my book carefully all those years ago?
Black box?
Idiot-proof?
Controls are said to be intuitive if they lend themselves to proper operation without special training or instruction.
As far as having to know how something works in order to operate it, as opposed to having to know how to work its controls, is there such a thing? No examples are coming to mind.
One of my psychology textbooks (can’t remember which one) distinguishes between “functional knowledge” of technology, which is the ability to use it, and “structural knowledge,” understanding how it works.
‘appliance operator’ is the term used for a radio operator that might know how to operate the radio without knowing how it worked.
“Appliance”
You don’t need to know how the microwave oven works. You just need to know insert food, close door, press button, wait, open door.
You’ll run across “appliance” in the networking world now and then to describe outwardly simple but internaly complicated things like firewalls, especially in the “SOHO” (small office / home office) market. You can just plug it in and let it run without needing to learn complicated things like firewall rules and state tables.
Yes, “appliance”. I see that used often in business (I’m in purchasing), and it pretty much refers to anything electrical that “does something”. I use it quite often.
Some tech writers use the term “toaster” for a single-purpose device which does one task and requires virtually no knowledge.