Does anyone have any idea what the difference between a 'model' and a 'representation' is with regards to this article? They seem to emphasize the importance of using the former instead of the latter, but I have no clear model(!) of the distinction between the two..
His full term is "representations of design", and he uses it previously in the following ways:
Languages aren’t design; they’re representations for writing down the design once we get it.
Quit thinking of external representations as what design is all about, and focus on mental process.
By representations of design, he means something more concrete and less fluid than mental models. Even mathematical notation is less fluid than mental models, because they presuppose the terms of reference, which is a solidification of a model, which makes it harder to even visualize the problem in other terms.
BTW: lisp is more fluid than java, but less fluid than mental models.
Representations are different ways of looking at the model.
Let's say you have a book. The ideas are the model and they can be adapted into various representations such as the book, a magazine excerpt, a movie, a musical, etc.
I think he means that the people who have trouble with design are those who focus on solving the problem that the representation demonstrates rather than solving the underlying problem (which is in the form of the model). So the solutions are specific and brittle rather than general and adaptable. Or something like that...
