Cognitive dimensions of notations
People and Computers V, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, (1989)Аннотация
‘Cognitive dimensions’ are features of computer languages considered purely as
information structures or notations. They therefore apply to many types of
language—interactive or programming, high or low level, procedural or declarative,
special purpose or general purpose. They are ‘cognitive’ dimensions because they control
how (or whether) the preferred cognitive strategy for design-like tasks can be adopted: it
has repeatedly been shown that users prefer opportunistic planning rather than any fixed
strategy such as top-down development. The dimension analysis makes it easier to
compare dissimilar interfaces or languages, and also helps to identify the relationship
between support tools and programming languages: the support tools make it possible to
use opportunistic planning with notations that would otherwise inhibit it.
Описание
To understand the implications of structural dimensions on the design of systems, which consist of notation and environment (tool support).
