Specialized languages: an applications methodology

One objective of the information processing community is to aid the problem-solving activities of its clients. In this paper we will discuss a methodology for serving the needs of the "user", that is, the end-user: the manager running an organization, the accountant understanding the financial condition of a company, the anthropologist studying a culture, the engineer designing some equipment, or the meteorologist predicting the weather. Each of these users has his own particular, idiosyncratic problems. The computer should be an effective tool for him in dealing with these problems. Our methodology is designed to provide each of these users with an appropriate interface to the computer, with a language which is natural to his view of reality.