I would be interested in a similar study on how the mind perceives software. The mouse pretty much seems like an extension of the body, but what about the keyboard? I'm typing this message right now without even glancing down once at my keyboard. How does that happen?
What about software that, over time, becomes "muscle memory"? Vim or Emacs, for example. Or UNIX shell tools (grep, awk etc.). What about programming languages? Sometimes I start thinking about problems in terms of whatever programming language I happen to be using at the moment. When I work on a project, I have a feeling of structure. I sometimes visualize OO code as various compartments. How does that work?
What about software that, over time, becomes "muscle memory"? Vim or Emacs, for example. Or UNIX shell tools (grep, awk etc.). What about programming languages? Sometimes I start thinking about problems in terms of whatever programming language I happen to be using at the moment. When I work on a project, I have a feeling of structure. I sometimes visualize OO code as various compartments. How does that work?