# The User Interface Is The Application

**URL:** <https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-user-interface-is-the-application/1030>\
**Category:** blog\
**Created:** [August 24, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-user-interface-is-the-application/1030 "2005-08-24T00:00:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 21

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**Author:** ![Chris\_Hennick](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/user_avatar/discourse.codinghorror.com/chris_hennick/32/76177_2.png) [@Chris\_Hennick](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Chris_Hennick)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/the-user-interface-is-the-application/1030/21 "2015-12-31T17:00:49Z")

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The “data is the app” people are right too, because from a user’s perspective, the UI is the data model as well. Different controls map in users’ minds to the different data types – check box = Boolean, dropdown list or radio-button group = enum, spinner = integer, slider = floating point, text box = string, window with icons = unsorted set, list view = 1D array, grid view = 2D array, tree view = tree. To prove this, add a tree view to your app’s save-file dialog, and watch how much deeper they start nesting their folders.

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