Ruven, >You might also find large differences in the same type of software across >different application domains.
I think it will depend on the amount of experience the developer has had with each domain. >I can hardly image that the same mental >model would be used for a programmer writing a client/server application >for machines that package cereal as for a client/server application for >university students to select housing. (Well, given the functionality of some >of the apps I've seen, perhaps, there are some programmers who use the >same mental model for both.) I think software developers perform a lot of reuse of mental models. Creating a new mental model is hard work, why not try and fit a new problem into a known model. Over time developers learn or evolve new models, but this is a huge investment of effort. I know developers are supposed to switch mental models at the drop of a hat, and we are supposed to spend hours fine tuning our models of the application domain and how they are mapped to software. Outside of academic papers and popularising self improvement books I have never seen this happen. Life is too short, everybody satisfices. Customers can have any mental model as long as it's black. derek -- Derek M Jones tel: +44 (0) 1252 520 667 Knowledge Software Ltd mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Applications Standards Conformance Testing http://www.knosof.co.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PPIG Discuss List ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Discuss admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/discuss Announce admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/announce PPIG Discuss archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/
