>On 4/10/99 at 2:30 pm, Fabrice Retkowsky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> It seems more interesting to
>> think in terms of tools and/or environment rather than programming
>> language. And one can apply the principles of the Cognitive Dimensions
>> to a programming environment or tool (viscosity, early commitment,
>
>Yes indeed, the cognitive dimensions framework is supposed to be
applicable to
>_all_ information tools. Including UML, for example.
>
>Chris Douce points out that the surrounding context and culture matter
too, and
>others have made similar points in various ways (including some of Ruven
>Brooks's points about Java). I agree very strongly and regret that at present
>researchers have so little to offer. However, HCI as a whole is getting
>interested in this problem, and maybe somebody can see how to import and
>specialise some of their contextual work into the programming/software design
>domain.
>
>Any offers? If anyone's doing that, please tell us!
My work is very much concerned with using contextual knowledge in software
engineering. I am currently developing a system which uses design
information as a source of 'meaning' for code - identifying higher level
information about what the code is being used for rather than using formal
approaches to (fairly ridigly) specify what a given code fragment /
component can be used for.
>The same could be said for the graphical/affective impact. For certain
people -
>probably not software engineers - the excitement of immediate response (what
>Nargaret Burnett calls liveness) makes a great difference, and the visual
design
>of a system does too. Does anyone out there have a handle on such things?
Although visual design systems have had some impact, my own view is that
basing tools on more widely used programming languages is ultimately a more
effective strategy since there is already a knowledgeable user base (who
may be available to end users as a source of information when they wish to
'break out' of the visual framework), and a more widely used language is
(by its' very nature) less likely to restict the user in achieving their
goal. Additionally, if the users of a visual language are expected to go
on to learn another language, or deal with programmers, an understanding of
the given paradigm (e.g. OO) will be beneficial.
Pete
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Hornsby,
Department of Computer Science
Loughborough University,
Loughborough,
Leicestershire,UK EMAIL:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
LE11 3TU. Tel: +44 (0)1509 222799
Fax: +44 (0)1509 211586
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