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An earlier version of this pap er without gures ap- p ears in TOOLS 10: Technology of Object-Oriented Languages and Systems, edited by Boris Magnus- son, Bertrand Meyer and Jean-Francois Perrot, Prentice-Hall, 1993, pages 5{10. 1 On Notation Joseph A. Goguen Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of California at San Diego La Jolla CA 92093-0114 Abstract: It has often b een noted that discussions among computer scientists ab out no- tation can b e more heated and protracted than discussions ab out issues usually considered more substantive. This suggests there may b e more to notation than is admitted in phrases like \mere syntax and \syntactic sugar. Building on C.S. Peirces classication of signs into icon, index and symb ol, I argue for the imp ortance of notation, and in particular, for the imp ortance of diagrams and other visual forms of presentation in addition to purely textual presentations. I also suggest some criteria for evaluating the quality of notation. These considerations are illustrated by notation from Eu