Cognitive load

[Keith Martin]

On 23 Apr 2017, at 8:55, Richmond Mathewson via use-livecode wrote:

> I'm not sure why smaller should necessarily be better.
>
> Surely a better equation might be how much one gets out for what one 
> puts in.

Well, that would be *another* measurement – related but not the same. 
Even harder to measure, I'm sure. The cognitive load of a menu-driven 
scripting system such as early versions of Flash was very low indeed 
(despite being rooted in an animation timeline concept) – but it was 
itself very limited. I think it's good that this Southern Cross U 
comparison didn't go beyond a set of actual application development 
tools.

I find the idea of cognitive load measurement extremely interesting. If 
something's Just Damn Tough to learn it's simply less accessible. It's 
the broad accessibility of xTalk that I have always found so exciting, 
from my HyperCard 1.x and SuperCard 1.x days onwards... and it's the 
relative Just Damn Tough-ness of Objective C that made me bail on my 
attempts to learn it a few years back. The cognitive load was too much 
for me. :-/

k


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Keith Martin
Senior Lecturer, LCC (University of the Arts London)
President, http://IVRPA.org
http://PanoramaPhotographer.com
http://thatkeith.com
+44 (0)7909541365

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