Secondary notation
Encyclopedia
In design
, a secondary notation is defined as "visual cues
which are not part of formal notation". Properties like position
, indentation
, color
, symmetry
, when used to convey information, are secondary notation.
A typical example of secondary notation is syntax highlighting
of programming code; the colors are not part of the code semantics, but help the programmer to visualize its meaning.
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
, a secondary notation is defined as "visual cues
Sensory cue
A sensory cue is a statistic or signal that can be extracted from the sensory input by a perceiver, that indicates the state of some property of the world that the perceiver is interested in perceiving....
which are not part of formal notation". Properties like position
Coordinate system
In geometry, a coordinate system is a system which uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of a point or other geometric element. The order of the coordinates is significant and they are sometimes identified by their position in an ordered tuple and sometimes by...
, indentation
Indentation
An indentation may refer to:* A notch, or deep recesses; for instance in a coastline, or a carving in rock* The placement of text farther to the right to separate it from surrounding text....
, color
Color
Color or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
, symmetry
Symmetry
Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection...
, when used to convey information, are secondary notation.
A typical example of secondary notation is syntax highlighting
Syntax highlighting
Syntax highlighting is a feature of some text editors that display text—especially source code—in different colors and fonts according to the category of terms. This feature eases writing in a structured language such as a programming language or a markup language as both structures and...
of programming code; the colors are not part of the code semantics, but help the programmer to visualize its meaning.