The Use-Mention Perspective on Programming for the
Interface
Randall B. Smith,
David Ungar,
and
Bay-Wei Chang
Abstract:
In the past
decade, direct manipulation interfaces have become commonplace. It is
generally recognized that these interfaces succeed because they allow
users to import intuitions from their real world experience. We believe
that there are significant advantages to taking the physical world
metaphor more seriously than does a typical direct-manipulation
interface. In our work on ARK and on the interface for the
language Self, we have concentrated on trying to portray a
consistent, tangible reality: a user who subconsciously buys into this
illusion does not have to bear the cognitive load associated with the
conscious awareness of the interface. In this paper, we discuss the
implications for programming that arise from taking the physical world
analogy very seriously, particularly in regard to issues of use and
mention. The task of programming is bound up in the issue of mention
vs. use. For example, when programming for the direct manipulation
context, one must have ways to mention buttons and menus without
invoking (using) them. When modifying a button, one must talk about it,
and is not then interested in firing it off. Programming for direct
manipulation interfaces is commonly carried out in a textual language,
in which use and mention are distinct. However, a direct manipulation
interface is a physical-world analog, and we argue that use and mention
are not distinguished by the physical world. We argue that passing from
the user interface into the textual language will always be an
ungraceful act, because the two domains are fundamentally different in
how they handle use and mention. We claim that forcing a distinction
between use and mention into the interface has serious and evil
consequences. The solution we propose is to take the real world's lack
of distinction between use and mention seriously by providing
programming capabilities within the direct manipulation paradigm in a
way that is modeled on the physical world.
Languages for Developing User Interfaces, Brad A. Myers, ed.,
Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Boston, 1992, pp. 79-89.
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