Computing Reviews
Today's Issue Hot Topics Search Browse Recommended My Account Log In
Review Help
Search
User-friendly syntax: design and presentation
Henno J. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies28 (5):551-572,1988.Type:Article
Date Reviewed: Jun 1 1989

This poorly written paper contains little material of significant interest. Commencing with yet another look at the inconsistencies of Ada (in this case declarative syntax), the author moves on to describe experiments using three mini-languages. Language I is an Ada subset that retains Ada’s inconsistencies; language II is a single Ada syntax form regularly extended to cover all declarations; and language III allows all Ada declarative syntax variants in all types of declarations (i.e., any given declaration can be written in many ways). The results of the experiments using volunteers showed II to have higher user acceptance and be easier to learn than III or I (I was the worst). Nonetheless, throughout the paper Henno dogmatically asserts the need to allow multiple syntax variants in languages. He dismisses the victory of mini-language II over III in his own experiments with a few “maybe” statements and the comment “the question of optimal syntax is a complicated one.” This paper is uninformative and substandard as a research effort.

Reviewer:  R. House Review #: CR113205
Bookmark and Share
 
Syntax (D.3.1 ... )
 
 
Software Psychology (D.m ... )
 
Would you recommend this review?
yes
no
Other reviews under "Syntax": Date
Formal syntax methods for natural language
Johnson D., Bryant B. Information Processing Letters 19(3): 135-143, 1984. Type: Article
Jun 1 1985
On the (non-) relationship between SLR(1) and NQLALR(1) grammars
Bermudez M., Schimpf K. ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems 10(2): 338-342, 1988. Type: Article
Oct 1 1988
Extending context-free grammars with permutation phrases
Cameron R. ACM Letters on Programming Languages and Systems 2(1-4): 85-94, 1993. Type: Article
Dec 1 1994
more...

E-Mail This Printer-Friendly
Send Your Comments
Contact Us
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.   Copyright 1999-2024 ThinkLoud®
Terms of Use
| Privacy Policy