This paper describes the Kaleidoquery visual query language for object data
bases and its comparative evaluation with object query language (OQL). The
design philosophy behind the filter flow nature of Kaleidoquery and each of
the language's constructs is described, and examples are given that allow
comparisons to be made with OQL. This is followed by a description of an ex
periment with the Kaleidoquery and OQL languages. Two groups of subjects, p
rogrammers and non-programmers, were taught aspects of OQL and Kaleidoquery
, and then tested under experimental conditions. Results show that both gro
ups answered significantly more correct queries using certain constructs of
the Kaleidoquery language. (C) 2000 Academic Press.