Cognitive Factors in Programming with Diagrams

Abstract

Visual programming languages aim to broaden the use of diagrams within the software industry, to the extent that they are integrated into the programming language itself. As a result, they provide an ideal opportunity to study the benefits of diagrams as an external representation during problem solving: not only is programming a challenging problem-solving activity, but the effect of diagram usage can be directly assessed by comparing performance while using a visual programming language to performance with a standard textual language. There have been several misconceptions amongst visual language researchers regarding the role of diagrams in software design, but these are being addressed by empirical studies and by new theories of notation design derived from studies of visual programming. Based on this research, the authors are able to recommend several new directions for research into thinking with diagrams.

Using Visualizations to Support Design and Debugging in Virtual Reality

“…We also describe a study designed to test the effectiveness of these visualizations. In software visualization, which is related to our work, the outstanding questions include: with which problems are diagrams better than text, how do individuals differ in how they work with diagrams and what are the benefits of using multiple representations [1]? These underlie our research and motivate the study.…”

“…General research on external representations suggests that they are useful in promoting reflexivity and a deeper understanding of their subjects [8,1,9,3]. Eastman [9], in a survey of representations used in design, suggests that novices learn from viewing and working with external representations, so that in time these are internalised and become part of the designer's reasoning tools.…”

Does metaphor increase visual language usability?

“…It seems clear that they enable instructional techniques that would not be available with textual languages [3] [4]. One of these opportunities for improved usability is the capability to incorporate an instructional metaphor into the visual representation.…”

Evaluation of Selected Control Programming Languages for Process Engineers by Means of Cognitive Effectiveness and Dimensions

“…However, concerning understandability (R2.1), both cognitive dimensions and cognitive effectiveness offer different criteria to be taken into account. When comparing the relevant properties of cognitive dimensions [48] with the principles of cognitive effectiveness [34] concerning understandability, it becomes evident, that the prior are a subset of the latter (cf. Table 5).…”