NatS Oberseminar 6. June 2005

Some semiotic and cognitive aspects in programming

Monica Tataram

First, we analyze the interplay of the iconic and indexical functions, on the one hand, and the symbolic function, on the other hand, in programming and programming languages. The main conclusion is that, while with respect to programming languages each new generation meant the strengthening of the symbolic function of the signs used, with respect to the programming discipline the situation is different: the iconic and the indexical functions are more widely invoked than the symbolic function.

Then, we investigate different aspects of visual cognition in programming concentrating only on objects (leaving aside phenomena and actions). The main conclusion is that in programming, visual cognition is a second-order type of cognition.