Noun
The act or practice of recording anything by marks, figures, or characters.
Any particular system of characters, symbols, or abbreviated expressions used in art or science, to express briefly technical facts, quantities, etc. Esp., the system of figures, letters, and signs used in arithmetic and algebra to express number, quantity, or operations.
Literal or etymological signification.
Source: Webster's dictionaryDuring the process of stepwise refinement, a notation which is natural to the problem in hand should be used as long as possible. Niklaus Wirth
By relieving the brain of all unnecessary work, a good notation sets it free to concentrate on more advanced problems, and, in effect, increases the mental power of the race. Alfred North Whitehead
As the mother teaches her children how to express themselves in their language, so one Gypsy musician teaches the other. They have never shown any need for notation. Franz Liszt
If it is to be effective as a tool of thought, a notation must allow convenient expression not only of notions arising directly from a problem, but also of those arising in subsequent analysis, generalization, and specialization. Kenneth E. Iverson
The precision provided (or enforced) by programming languages and their execution can identify lacunas, ambiguities, and other areas of potential confusion in conventional [mathematical] notation. Kenneth E. Iverson
Most programming languages are decidedly inferior to mathematical notation and are little used as tools of thought in ways that would be considered significant by, say, an applied mathematician. Kenneth E. Iverson