Lambda the Ultimate

The advantages of diagrams, in our view, are computational. That is diagrams can be better representations not because they contain more information, but because the indexing of this information can support extremely useful and efficient computational processes. But this means that diagrams are useful only to those who know the appropriate computational processes for taking advantage of them. Furthermore, a problem solver often also needs the knowledge of how to construct a "good" diagram that lets him take advantage of the virtues we have discussed. In short, the ideas we have presented, not only provide an explanation of why diagrams can be so useful, but also provide a framework for further study of the knowledge required for effective diagram use.

While this paper is not about programming languages, it describes research that may be relevant to the discussion of visual programming languages versus textual languages as well as other language design decisions. Seeing as human factors were recently mentioned, and that it seems to be cognitive-week here on LtU, I thought this paper might be of interest.

While I am sure this paper can be discussed from many angles, I'll only mention two. 1. While this paper is old, I still find it remarkable how old fashioned it seems. I am not sure exactly what causes it to feel this way; probably something in the writing style. 2. While I haven't searched the literature, I don't recall seeing research on programming languages that uses the framework suggested by this paper even though Simon's work was, of course, well known to computer scientists in general, and PL researchers in particular.