Engineering symbolic language may be used for the [[Specification (technical standard)|specification]], [[Engineering design process|design]], [[implementation]], [[management]], operation, and execution of engineered [[systems]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://socialcomplexity.gmu.edu/lmi-nasa/|title=Advanced Engineering Language, Symbols, and Visualizations for Complex and Increasingly Autonomous SystemsCenter for Social Complexity|last=Provost|first=Office of the|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-24}}</ref>{{or|date=June 2019}}
[[Communication]] using [[precisionwikt:precise|precise]], [[concision|concise]] representations of concepts is critical in engineering.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=DIXON|first=JOHN R.|date=1962|title=SYMBOLS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42573965|journal=ETC: A Review of General Semantics|volume=19|issue=3|pages=269–272|issn=0014-164X}}</ref> The Nuclear Principles in Engineering book begins with a quote on symbolic language from Erich Fromm and its power to express and depict associations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1185032W/The_forgotten_language|title=The forgotten language {{!}} Open Library|last=OpenLibrary.org|website=Open Library|language=en|access-date=2019-06-29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmXZF1lKIBgC|title=Nuclear Principles in Engineering|last=Jevremovic|first=Tatjana|date=2008-12-15|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9780387856070|language=en}}</ref> The engineering employs symbolic language in a way that is not purely text-based and not purely image-based to [[representation|represent]] and communicate knowledge.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s-9yu7ubSykC|title=Model Driven Engineering and Ontology Development|last=Gaševic|first=Dragan|last2=Djuric|first2=Dragan|last3=Devedžic|first3=Vladan|date=2009-06-12|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9783642002823|language=en}}</ref>
Examples in [[chemical engineering]] include the symbolic languages developed for [[Process flow diagram|process flow diagrams]] and for [[Piping and instrumentation diagram| piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs)]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.conceptdraw.com/examples/engineer-drawing-symbols|title=Chemical and Process Engineering, Engineer Drawing Symbols, Design elements, Dimensioning and Tolerancing|website=[[ConceptDraw DIAGRAM|ConceptDraw]]|access-date=2019-06-29}}</ref>
