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(Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the Eurographics Association, 1984) Mac an Airchinnigh, M
One of the most important uses of (interactive) computer graphics is as one of the tools available to a User Interface Management System (UIMS) for a variety of user-computer environments (UCE). Typical UCEs in vogue are Programming Support Environments (PSE), Expert System Builders (ESB), Office Automation systems (OAS). This paper concentrates on the conceptual relationship that exists between the users on the one hand and computer systems on the other. Such relationships are to be seen in the context of specific application domains. The two standards, GKS and Ada, are chosen to be the background against which the argument for a Software Methodology based on the Abstract Data Type approach, is presented. This has significant implications for a GKS binding to Ada and the development of GKS application software written in Ada. A collection of colour models is considered in detail.Ada(R) is a registered trademark of the U.S. Government, Ada Joint Program Office.
(Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the Eurographics Association, 1984) Willis, P J
If we accept the above idiosyncratic views, what kind of architecture will the fifth generation machine offer to graphics users? We would hope to see high quality colour raster graphics, tightly coupled to a sophisticated processor but in its own address space. It should allow for pictures much larger than the screen and also at higher resolution. The local disk must be organized to handle the large amounts of data which picture manipulation on this scale calls for. Disk and main memory must have support for manipulation of two dimensional arrays of pixel data and the filing system and its utilities must reflect this. Response is more important than ever.The software to be built on to this hardware is still a matter for conjecture and depends on whether a particular combination of hardware and language family can be packaged to give clear performance advantages. However a real-time style operating system is essential.Timescales for suitable architectures seem quite short, around two or three years, with software developing beyond that. Certainly such a machine will contain far more graphical software in the operating system than any before and ought to satisfy a wide range of raster graphics applications.