Cognitive load

[Richard Gaskin]

Yep.  In essence, what we have in this paper is scientific evidence that 
reinforces what the folks on this list know so well:

LiveCode is MUCH easier to learn than most alternatives.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin

Mike Kerner wrote:

> So I assume that smaller is better
>
> On Sat, Apr 22, 2017 at 1:36 PM, Richard Gaskin via use-livecode <
> use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
>
>> Since cognitive load came up in the other thread about numberFormat, some
>> of you may find this paper very interesting:
>>
>>
>> Using Cognitive Load Theory to select an Environment for Teaching
>> Mobile Apps Development
>>
>> Raina Mason, Southern Cross University
>> Graham Cooper, Southern Cross University
>> Simon, University of Newcastle
>> Barry Wilks, Southern Cross University
>>
>> Abstract
>> --------
>> After considering a number of environments for the development of apps for
>> mobile devices, we have evaluated five in terms of their suitability for
>> students early in their programing study. For some of the evaluation we
>> devised an evaluation scheme based on the  principles of cognitive load
>> theory to assess the relative ease or difficulty of learning and using each
>> environment. After briefly presenting the scheme, we discuss our results,
>> including our findings about which mobile apps development environments
>> appear to show most promise for early-level programming students.
>>
>>
>> Excerpt
>> -------
>> The computed averages are as follows:
>>
>> TouchDevelop: 16%
>> LiveCode: 17%
>> App Inventor: 33%
>> Xamarin: 59%
>> Visual Studio: 65%
>> ...
>> The mobile development environments that we evaluated fell clearly into
>> three groups. TouchDevelop and LiveCode, with threshold scores of less than
>> 20%,  permitted the development of code with the least relative cognitive
>> load. Despite the fact that it was designed for, and is typically used for,
>> novice programmers, App Inventor had double the threshold score of these
>> two environments, indicating a substantially higher relative cognitive
>> load. Both Visual Studio and Xamarin Studio had threshold scores of around
>> 60%, nearly double again, indicating another substantial leap in the
>> relative cognitive load required to develop mobile apps in these
>> environments.
>>
>>
>> <https://www.academia.edu/21401775/Using_Cognitive_Load_Theo
>> ry_to_select_an_Environment_for_Teaching_Mobile_Apps_Development>
>>