Title :
Characterizing visual languages
Author :
Raymond, Darrell R.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. Sci., Waterloo Univ., Ont., Canada
Abstract :
A better understanding of the visual character of languages is important in developing one´s ability to exploit the human visual system. The author briefly outlines Goodman´s (1976) distinction between notational and analog languages, and describes its use in developing the notion of syntactic and semantic density as the defining characteristic of visual languages. Several languages are evaluated for their use of density. He concludes that practical languages are most visually effective when their layout is constrained by an important semantic domain
Keywords :
human factors; visual languages; human visual system; semantic density; syntactic density; visual languages; Artificial intelligence; Computer science; Fingers; Flowcharts; Humans; Layout; Solids; Testing; User interfaces; Visual system;
Conference_Titel :
Visual Languages, 1991., Proceedings. 1991 IEEE Workshop on
Conference_Location :
Kobe
Print_ISBN :
0-8186-2330-6
DOI :
10.1109/WVL.1991.238835
