[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]
Subject: Re: [xmile] Very rough draft of section 5: Display and interface structure
Hi Billy, Your point on using the tags is well taken. There is no point in introducing different monikers in the two sections. I will update the language spec section to follow this pattern. As far as the hierarchy of inclusion goes, however, I still find indented lists to be far easier to understand quickly than looking at XML. In fact, when I look at XML I usually just hope that the indentation used is reflecting what I think it is and ignore closing tags and the "actual" structure of the material. So, while XML closely reflects what will be in the final stored models, I think it hampers understanding at the conceptual stage. On the second point I definitely do mean the diagrammatic representation of the models. One thing I often do in teaching is to create one view of a model using stock and flow and another using causal loops. This is an effective way of showing how feedback manifests visually in the two different forms and how it can seem hidden in the stock and flow form. Another common use for repetitions of structure is the inclusion of more than just a ghost or shadow as input in order to clarify structure. Often the stocks in an aging chain from one part of the model when used connected together in another part make it easier to understand the other part. The goal in this specification, from my perspective as a representative of the System Dynamics Society, is to be able to capture the vast majority of models in use in our field. Holding to a single definitional visual representation of model variables would definitely thwart that. That still leaves the question of whether we include two distinct methods for display representations, or always separate it from the variable definitions. Bob Eberlein On 9/20/2013 9:43 AM, Billy Schoenberg
wrote:
|
[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]