I have spent the last fifteen years of my life leading an incredible team. Our quest (which we did not even realize in the beginning) was to revolutionize the way computer programming is taught. Current versions of the Alice system (Alice v2.0, and Caitlin Kelleher's "Storytelling Alice") have been very effective in the college classroom and in tests with middle school girls. The use of drag-and-drop authoring to create 3D movies has proved to be a powerful motivator for students of all ages and both genders. In 2008, we will release Alice v3.0, which provides "real Java" programming and the characters from EA's "The Sims," the most popular PC video game in history.

We describe Storytelling Alice, a programming environment that introduces middle school girls to computer programming as a means to the end of creating 3D animated stories. Storytelling Alice supports story creation by providing 1) a set of high-level animations, that support the use of social characters who can interact with one another, 2) a collection of 3D characters and scenery designed to spark story ideas, and 3) a tutorial that introduces users to writing Alice programs using story-based examples. In a study comparing girls' experiences learning to program using Storytelling Alice and a version of Alice without storytelling support (Generic Alice), we found that users of Storytelling Alice and Generic Alice were equally successful at learning basic programming constructs. Participants found Storytelling Alice and Generic Alice equally easy to use and entertaining. Users of Storytelling Alice were more motivated to program; they spent 42% more time programming, were more than 3 times as likely to sneak extra time to work on their programs, and expressed stronger interest in future use of Alice than users of Generic Alice.

Traditional approaches to teaching computer science are often unsuccessful in attracting girls into the discipline. Our hypothesis is that presenting computer programming as a means to the end of storytelling will help motivate girls to learn to program, a traditional gateway to computer science. In this paper, we present a case study in designing a version of the Alice programming system to support storytelling. We present lessons we learned about what supports are necessary to enable girls to program animated movies and describe the kinds of programming tasks that arise in girls' stories

Creativity support tools is a research topic with high risk but potentially very high payoff. The goal is to develop improved software and user interfaces that empower users to be not only more productive but also more innovative. Potential users include software and other engineers, diverse scientists, product and graphic designers, architects, educators, students, and many others. Enhanced interfaces could enable more effective searching of intellectual resources, improved collaboration among teams, and more rapid discovery processes. These advanced interfaces should also provide potent support in hypothesis formation, speedier evaluation of alternatives, improved understanding through visualization, and better dissemination of results. For creative endeavors that require composition of novel artifacts (e.g., computer programs, scientific papers, engineering diagrams, symphonies, artwork), enhanced interfaces could facilitate exploration of alternatives, prevent unproductive choices, and enable easy backtracking. This U.S. National Science Foundation sponsored workshop brought together 25 research leaders and graduate students to share experiences, identify opportunities, and formulate research challenges. Two key outcomes emerged: (a) encouragement to evaluate creativity support tools through multidimensional in-depth longitudinal case studies and (b) formulation of 12 principles for design of creativity support tools.

Large wall-sized displays are becoming prevalent. Although researchers have articulated qualitative benefits of group work on large displays, little work has been done to quantify the benefits for individual users. In this article we present four experiments comparing the performance of users working on a large projected wall display to that of users working on a standard desktop monitor. In these experiments, we held the visual angle constant by adjusting the viewing distance to each of the displays. Results from the first two experiments suggest that physically large displays, even when viewed at identical visual angles as smaller ones, help users perform better on mental rotation tasks. We show through the experiments how these results may be attributed, at least in part, to large displays immersing users within the problem space and biasing them into using more efficient cognitive strategies. In the latter two experiments, we extend these results, showing the presence of these effects with more complex tasks, such as 3D navigation and mental map formation and memory. Results further show that the effects of physical display size are independent of other factors that may induce immersion, such as interactivity and mental aids within the virtual environments. We conclude with a general discussion of the findings and possibilities for future work.

Users of traditional tutorials and help systems often have difficulty finding the components described or pictured in the procedural instructions. Users also unintentionally miss steps, and perform actions that the documentation's authors did not intend, moving the application into an unknown state. We introduce Stencils, an interaction technique for presenting tutorials that uses translucent colored stencils containing holes that direct the user's attention to the correct interface component and prevent the user from interacting with other components. Sticky notes on the stencil's surface provide necessary tutorial material in the context of the application. In a user study comparing a Stencils-based and paper-based version of the same tutorial in Alice, a complex software application designed to teach introductory computer programming, we found that users of a Stencils-based tutorial were able complete the tutorial 26% faster, with fewer errors, and less reliance on human assistance. Users of the Stencils-based and paper-based tutorials attained statistically similar levels of learning.

Previous results have shown that users perform better on spatial orientation tasks involving static 2D scenes when working on physically large displays as compared to small ones. This was found to be true even when the displays presented the same images at equivalent visual angles. Further investigation has suggested that large displays may provide a greater sense of presence, which biases users into adopting more efficient strategies to perform tasks. In this work, we extend those findings, demonstrating that users are more effective at performing 3D virtual navigation tasks on large displays. We also show that even though interacting with the environment affects performance, effects induced by interactivity are independent of those induced by physical display size. Together, these findings allow us to derive guidelines for the design and presentation of interactive 3D environments on physically large displays.

Large wall-sized displays are becoming prevalent. Although researchers have articulated qualitative benefits of group work on large displays, little work has been done to quantify the benefits for individual users. We ran two studies comparing the performance of users working on a large projected wall display to that of users working on a standard desktop monitor. In these studies, we held the visual angle constant by adjusting the viewing distance to each of the displays. Results from the first study indicate that although there was no significant difference in performance on a reading comprehension task, users performed about 26% better on a spatial orientation task done on the large display. Results from the second study suggest that the large display affords a greater sense of presence, allowing users to treat the spatial task as an egocentric rather than an exocentric rotation. We discuss future work to extend our findings and formulate design principles for computer interfaces and physical workspaces.

Animated program visualization can be used to support innovative instructional methods for teaching beginners about objects, their behavior, and state. In this paper, we present a discussion of methods that define object behavior and character (class)-level state variables that track state changes for 3D animated objects in small virtual worlds. We have found that character-level methods provide a means to demonstrate inheritance. Examples of worlds and program code used in instructional materials are provided.

Defining how 3D models respond to user actions is a crucial step in building an interactive 3D world. Unfortunately, existing tools make it very difficult for interaction designers to assign responses to any part of a 3D model that is not a pre-defined group of polygons. This is particularly problematic for applications that use image-based models or models where most of the detail is in the model's texture map. We present a flexible and easy-to-use technique that overcomes this problem by allowing a designer to specify interaction surfaces, parts of the model he wants to respond to events, by painting them onto the model. We capture the painted areas by projecting them onto a 2D interaction map. An interaction map is similar to a traditional texture, but it specifies interaction surfaces instead of affecting a model's appearance. We allow designers to name interaction surfaces and then assign them responses to events both statically and at run-time. In addition, designers can modify the size and shape of interaction surfaces at run-time and can pass parameters to these surfaces' responses by encoding them in the model's interaction map.

An objects-first strategy for teaching introductory computer science courses is receiving increased attention from CS educators. In this paper, we discuss the challenge of the objects-first strategy and present a new approach that attempts to meet this challenge. The new approach is centered on the visualization of objects and their behaviors using a 3D animation environment. Statistical data as well as informal observations are summarized to show evidence of student performance as a result of this approach. A comparison is made of the pedagogical aspects of this new approach with that of other relevant work.

We present a wireless virtual reality system and a prototype full body Tai Chi training application. Our primary contribution is the creation of a virtual reality system that tracks the full body in a working volume of 4 meters by 5 meters by 2.3 meters high to produce an animated representation of the user with 42 degrees of freedom. This - combined with a lightweight (<3 pounds) belt-worn video receiver and head-mounted display - provides a wide area, untethered virtual environment that allows exploration of new application areas. Our secondary contribution is our attempt to show that user interface techniques made possible by such a system can improve training for a full body motor task. We tested several immersive techniques, such as providing multiple copies of a teacher's body positioned around the student and allowing the student to superimpose his body directly over the virtual teacher None of these techniques proved significantly better than mimicking traditional Tai Chi instruction, where we provided one virtual teacher directly in front of the student. We consider the implications of these findings for future motion training tasks.

When creating techniques for manipulating objects at a distance in immersive virtual environments, researchers have primarily focused on increasing selection range, placement range, and placement accuracy. This focus has led researchers to create and formally study a series of "arm-extension" techniques, which dynamically scale the user's arm to allow him to manipulate distant objects. Researchers have also developed representation-based techniques, which allow users to manipulate a distant object by manipulating a copy of it in a handheld representation. However, researchers have not yet formally established the relative value of these techniques. In this paper we present a formal study comparing Voodoo Dolls, a best-practice representation-based technique, with HOMER, a best-practice arm-extension technique. We found that the Voodoo Dolls technique, which provides better feedback by allowing users to view a manipulated object both up close and at a distance, allowed users to both position and orient objects more accurately. Our results suggest that researchers should focus on improving feedback for 3D manipulation techniques

At SIGGRAPH in 1991, Loren and Rachel Carpenter unveiled an interactive entertainment system that allowed members of a large audience to control an onscreen game using red and green reflective paddles. In the spirit of this approach, we present a new set of techniques that enable members of an audience to participate, either cooperatively or competitively, in shared entertainment experiences. Our techniques allow audiences with hundreds of people to control onscreen activity by (1) leaning left and right in their seats, (2) batting a beach ball while its shadow is used as a pointing device, and (3) pointing laser pointers at the screen. All of these techniques can be implemented with inexpensive, off the shelf hardware. Me have tested these techniques with a variety of audiences; in this paper we describe both the computer vision based implementation and the lessons we learned about designing effective content for interactive audience participation.

This paper describes an approach for introducing recursion, as part of a course for novice programmers. The course is designed to make use of a 3-D animation world-builder as a visualization tool that allows students to see their own programs in action. One of the pedagogical goals of the course is to enable the student to gain an intuitive sense of and mathematical insight into the recursive process. The software, examples of animation using recursion, and some experiences in using this approach are discussed.

In learning to program, students must gain an understanding of how their program works. They need to make a connection between what they have written and what the program actually does. Otherwise, students have trouble figuring out what went wrong when things do not work. One factor that contributes to making this connection is an ability to visualize a program's state and how it changes when the program is executed. In this paper, we present Alice, a 3-D interactive animation environment. Alice provides a graphic visualization of a program's state in an animated small world and thereby supports the beginning programmer in learning to construct and debug programs.

A user interface software tool helps developers design and implement the user interface. Research on past tools has had enormous impact on today's developers—virtually all applications today are built using some form of user interface tool. In this article, we consider cases of both success and failure in past user interface tools. From these cases we extract a set of themes which can serve as lessons for future work. Using these themes, past tools can be characterized by what aspects of the user interface they addressed, their threshold and ceiling, what path of least resistance they offer, how predictable they are to use, and whether they addressed a target that became irrelevant. We believe the lessons of these past themes are particularly important now, because increasingly rapid technological changes are likely to significantly change user interfaces. We are at the dawn of an era where user interfaces are about to break out of the “desktop” box where they have been stuck for the past 15 years. The next millenium will open with an increasing diversity of user interface on an increasing diversity of computerized devices. These devices include hand-held personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, pages, computerized pens, computerized notepads, and various kinds of desk and wall size-computers, as well as devices in everyday objects (such as mounted on refridgerators, or even embedded in truck tires). The increased connectivity of computers, initially evidenced by the World Wide Web, but spreading also with technologies such as personal-area networks, will also have a profound effect on the user interface to computers. Another important force will be recognition-based user interfaces, especially speech, and camera-based vision systems. Other changes we see are an increasing need for 3D and end-user customization, programming, and scripting. All of these changes will require significant support from the underlying user interface sofware tools.

The Voodoo Dolls technique is a two-handed interaction technique for manipulating objects at a distance in immersive virtual environments.This technique addresses some limitations of existing techniques: they do not provide a lightweight method of interacting with objects of widely varying sizes, and many limit the objects that can be selected and the manipulations possible after making a selection.With the Voodoo Dolls technique, the user dynamically creates dolls: transient, hand held copies of objects whose effects on the objects they represent are determined by the hand holding them.For simplicity, we assume a right-handed user in the following discussion.When a user holds a doll in his right hand and moves it relative to a doll in his left hand, the object represented by the doll in his right hand moves to the same position and orientation relative to the object represented by the doll in his left hand.The system scales the dolls so that the doll in the left hand is half a meter along its longest dimension and the other dolls maintain the same relative size; this allows the user to work seamlessly at multiple scales.The Voodoo Dolls technique also allows both visible and occluded objects to be selected, and provides a stationary frame of reference for working relative to moving objects.

No abstract available.

We discuss a two-handed user interface designed to support three-dimesional neurosurgical visualization. By itself, this system is a “point design,” an example of an advanced user interface technique. In this work, we argue that in order to understand why interaction techniques do or do not work, and to suggest possibilities for new techniques, it is important to move beyond point design and to introduce careful scientific measurement of human behavioral principles. In particular, we argue that the common-sense viewpoint that “two hands save time by working in parallel” may not always be an effective way to think about two-handed interface design because the hands do not necessarily work in parallel (there is a structure to two-handed manipulation) and because two hands do more than just save time over one hand (two hands provide the user with more information and can structure how the user thinks about a task). To support these claims, we present an interface design developed in collaboration with neurosurgeons which has undergone extensive informal usability testing, as well as a pair of formal experimental studies which investigate behavioral aspects of two-handed virtual object manipulation. Our hope is that this discussion will help others to apply the lessons in our neurosurgery application to future two-handed user interface designs.

We present an experiment on cooperative bimanual action.Right-handed subjects manipulated a pair of physical objects, a tool and a target object, so that the tool would touch a target on the object @g. 1).For this task, there is a marked specialization of the hands.Performance is best when the left hand orients the target object and the right hand manipulates the tool, but is significantly reduced when these roles are reversed.This suggests that the right hand operates relative to the frame-of-reference of the left hand.Furthermore, when physical constraints guide the tool placement, this fundamentally changes the type of motor control required.The task is tremendously simplified for both hands, and reversing roles of the hands is no longer an important factor.Thus, specialization of the roles of the hands is significant only for skilled manipulation.

We investigate the synergy of the two hands for virtual object manipuhttion.We report results from an experiment which suggest that the two hands together provide sufficient perceptual cues to form a frame of reference which is independent of visual feedback.The same is not true for one hand moving in empty space.Our inteqmtadon is that users may not have to constantly maintain visual attention when both hands can be involved in a manipulation.Our results suggest that using two hands can provide more than just a time savings over one-handed manipulation.llvo hands together provide the user with information which one hand alone cannot.Our results also suggest that using two hands can potentially impact performance at the cognitive level by changing how users think about a task.Since the user can potentially integrate subtasks controlled by each hand without an explicit cost to switch between subtasks, this encourages exploration of the task solution space.Fhmlly, to illustrate why one might expect this to be true, we present a task analysis which helps to reason about the differences between one and two-handed interfaces.

Virtual Reality (VR) has generated much excitement but little formal proof that it is useful. Because VR interfaces are difficult and expensive to build, the computer graphics community needs to be able to predict which applications will benefit from VR. In this paper, we show that users with a VR interface complete a search task faster than users with a stationary monitor and a hand-based input device. We placed users in the center of the virtual room shown in Figure 1 and told them to look for camouflaged targets. VR users did not do significantly better than desktop users. However, when asked to search the room and conclude if a target existed, VR users were substantially better at determining when they had searched the entire room. Desktop users took 41% more time, re-examining areas they had already searched. We also found a positive transfer of training from VR to stationary displays and a negative transfer of training from stationary displays to VR.

We report results from a formal user study of interactive 3D rotation using the mouse-driven Virtual Sphere and Arcball techniques, as well as multidimensional input techniques based on magnetic orientation sensors. Multidimensional input is often assumed to allow users to work quickly, but at the cost of precision, due to the instability of the hand moving in the open air. We show that, at least for the orientation matching task used in this experiment, users can take advantage of the integrated degrees of freedom provided by multidimensional input without necessarily sacrificing precision: using multidimensional input, users completed the experimental task up to 36% faster without any statistically detectable loss of accuracy. We also report detailed observations of common usability problems when first encountering the techniques. Our observations suggest some design issues for 3D input devices. For example, the physical form-factors of the 3D input device significantly influenced us...

Alice is a rapid prototyping system used to create three dimensional graphics simulations like those seen in virtual reality applications. Alice uses an interpreted language called Python as its scripting language to implement user actions. This interactive development environment allows users to explore many more design options than is possible in a compiled language environment. The alpha version of Alice for Windows 95 is available for free over the intemet, with the beta release scheduled for August.

Article Disney's Aladdin: first steps toward storytelling in virtual reality Share on Authors: Randy Pausch Computer Science Department, Thornton Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA Computer Science Department, Thornton Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VAView Profile , Jon Snoddy Walt Disney Imagineering Walt Disney ImagineeringView Profile , Robert Taylor Walt Disney Imagineering Walt Disney ImagineeringView Profile , Scott Watson Walt Disney Imagineering Walt Disney ImagineeringView Profile , Eric Haseltine Walt Disney Imagineering Walt Disney ImagineeringView Profile Authors Info & Claims SIGGRAPH '96: Proceedings of the 23rd annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniquesAugust 1996 Pages 193–203https://doi.org/10.1145/237170.237257Online:01 August 1996Publication History 100citation4,637DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations100Total Downloads4,637Last 12 Months262Last 6 weeks34 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

Article 3D magic lenses Share on Authors: John Viega User Interface Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Virginia, Thornton Hall, Charlottesville, VA User Interface Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Virginia, Thornton Hall, Charlottesville, VAView Profile , Matthew J. Conway User Interface Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Virginia, Thornton Hall, Charlottesville, VA User Interface Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Virginia, Thornton Hall, Charlottesville, VAView Profile , George Williams User Interface Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Virginia, Thornton Hall, Charlottesville, VA User Interface Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Virginia, Thornton Hall, Charlottesville, VAView Profile , Randy Pausch User Interface Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Virginia, Thornton Hall, Charlottesville, VA User Interface Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Virginia, Thornton Hall, Charlottesville, VAView Profile Authors Info & Claims UIST '96: Proceedings of the 9th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technologyNovember 1996 Pages 51–58https://doi.org/10.1145/237091.237098Online:01 November 1996Publication History 131citation1,529DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations131Total Downloads1,529Last 12 Months59Last 6 weeks8 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

Article Free Access Share on Virtual reality on a WIM: interactive worlds in miniature Authors: Richard Stoakley The University of Virginia, Department of Computer Science, Charlottesville, VA The University of Virginia, Department of Computer Science, Charlottesville, VAView Profile , Matthew J. Conway The University of Virginia, Department of Computer Science, Charlottesville, VA The University of Virginia, Department of Computer Science, Charlottesville, VAView Profile , Randy Pausch The University of Virginia, Department of Computer Science, Charlottesville, VA The University of Virginia, Department of Computer Science, Charlottesville, VAView Profile Authors Info & Claims CHI '95: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsMay 1995 Pages 265–272https://doi.org/10.1145/223904.223938Published:01 May 1995Publication History 516citation5,098DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations516Total Downloads5,098Last 12 Months669Last 6 weeks88 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteView all FormatsPDF

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

This paper describes a mechanism for improving rendering rates dynamically during runtime in an interactive three-dimensional graphics application. Well-known techniques such as transforming hierarchical geometry into a flat list and removing redundant graphics primitives are often performed off-line on static databases, or continuously every rendering frame. In addition, these optimizations are usually performed over the whole database. We observe that much of the database remains static for a fixed period of time, while other portions are modified continuously (e.g. the camera position), or are repeatedly modified during some finite interval (e.g. during user interaction). We have implemented a runtime optimization mechanism which is sensitive to repeated, local database changes. This mechanism employs timing strategies which optimize only when the cost of optimization will be amortized over a sufficient number of frames. Using this optimization scheme, we observe a rendering speedup of roughly 2.5 in existing applications. We discuss our initial implementation of this mechanism, the improved timing measurements, the issues and assumptions we made, and future improvements.

Article Passive real-world interface props for neurosurgical visualization Share on Authors: Ken Hinckley University of Virginia, Departments of Neurosurgery and Computer Science University of Virginia, Departments of Neurosurgery and Computer ScienceView Profile , Randy Pausch University of Virginia, University of Virginia, Computer Science University of Virginia, University of Virginia, Computer ScienceView Profile , John C. Goble University of Virginia, Departments of Neurosurgery University of Virginia, Departments of NeurosurgeryView Profile , Neal F. Kassell University of Virginia, Departments of Neurosurgery University of Virginia, Departments of NeurosurgeryView Profile Authors Info & Claims CHI '94: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsApril 1994 Pages 452–458https://doi.org/10.1145/191666.191821Online:24 April 1994Publication History 192citation2,131DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations192Total Downloads2,131Last 12 Months132Last 6 weeks12 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

No abstract available.

We present a survey of design issues for developing effective free-space three-dimensional (3D) user interfaces. Our survey is based upon previous work in 3D interaction, our experience in developing free-space interfaces, and our informal observations of test users. We illustrate our design issues using examples drawn from instances of 3D interfaces. For example, our first issue suggests that users have difficulty understanding three-dimensional space. We offer a set of strategies which may help users to better perceive a 3D virtual environment, including the use of spatial references, relative gesture, two-handed interaction, multisensory feedback, physical constraints, and head tracking. We describe interfaces which employ these strategies. Our major contribution is the synthesis of many scattered results, observations, and examples into a common framework. This framework should serve as a guide to researchers or systems builders who may not be familiar with design issues in spatial input. Where appropriate, we also try to identify areas in free-space 3D interaction which we see as likely candidates for additional research. An extended and annotated version of the references list for this paper is available on-line through mosaic at address

No abstract available.

Plus que les performances d'un systeme technologique, ce sont les possibilites de communication et leurs resultats qui peuvent etre ameliores. L'auteur developpe ici des mecanismes d'entree ou de sortie des donnees qui permettraient une meilleure communication ordinateur-utilisateur.

The Tailor project allows physically disabled users to provide real-time analog input to computer applications. We use a Polhemus tracking device and create a custom tailored mapping from each user's best range and type of motion into the analog control signal. The application is a simple video game based on Pong, where the analog input controls the position of the player's paddle. A group of able-bodied subjects was able to correctly hit the ball with the paddle 77% of the time, and a comparison group of children with Cerebral Palsy performed at the 50% level. More than half the disabled users were able to perform at a higher level than the worst able-bodied user.

In recent years, the computer science community has realized the advantages of GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces). Because high-quality GUIs are difficult to build, support tools such as UIMSs, UI Toolkits, and Interface Builders have been developed. Although these tools are powerful, they typically make two assumptions: first, that the programmer has some familiarity with the GUI model, and second, that he is willing to invest several weeks becoming proficient with the tool. These tools typically operate only on specific platforms, such as DOS, the Macintosh, or UNIX/X-windows. The existing tools are beyond the reach of most undergraduate computer science majors, or professional programmers who wish to quickly build GUIs without investing the time to become specialists in GUI design. For this class of users, we developed SUIT , the S imple U ser I interface T oolkit. SUIT is an attempt to distill the fundamental components of an interface builder and GUI toolkit, and to explain those concepts with the tool itself, all in a short period of time. We have measured that college juniors with no previous GUI programming experience can use SUIT productively after less than three hours. SUIT is a C subroutine library which provides an external control UIMS, an interactive layout editor, and a set of standard “widgets,” such as sliders, buttons, and check boxes. SUIT-based applications run transparently across the Macintosh, DOS, and UNIX/X platforms. SUIT has been exported to hundreds of external sites on the internet. This paper describes SUIT's architecture, the design decisions we made during its development, and the lessons we learned from extensive observations of over 120 users.

Virtual reality systems using head-mounted displays and glove input are gaining popularity but their cost prohibits widespread use. We have developed a system using an 80386 IBM-PC TM , a Polhemus 3Space Isotrak TM , two Reflection Technology Private Eye TM displays, and a Mattel Power Glove TM . For less than $5,000, we have created an effective vehicle for developing interaction techniques in virtual reality. Our system displays monochrome wire frames of objects with a spatial resolution of 720 by 280, the highest resolution head-mounted system published to date. We have confirmed findings by other researchers that lowlatency interaction is significantly more important than high-quality graphics or stereoscopy. We have also found it useful to display reference objects to our user, specifically a ground plane for reference and a vehicle containing the user. KEYWORDS: Virtual reality, head-mounted display, glove input, computer graphics, teleoperation, speech re...

Article SUIT: the Pascal of user interface toolkits Share on Authors: Randy Pausch Computer Science Department, Thornton Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA Computer Science Department, Thornton Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VAView Profile , Nathaniel R. Young Computer Science Department, Thornton Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA Computer Science Department, Thornton Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VAView Profile , Robert DeLine Computer Science Department, Thornton Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA Computer Science Department, Thornton Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VAView Profile Authors Info & Claims UIST '91: Proceedings of the 4th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technologyNovember 1991 Pages 117–125https://doi.org/10.1145/120782.120795Published:11 November 1991 12citation276DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations12Total Downloads276Last 12 Months8Last 6 weeks2 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

Article Tailor: creating custom user interfaces based on gesture Share on Authors: Randy Pausch University of Virginia, Thornton Hall, Charlottesville, VA University of Virginia, Thornton Hall, Charlottesville, VAView Profile , Ronald D. Williams University of Virginia, Thornton Hall, Charlottesville, VA University of Virginia, Thornton Hall, Charlottesville, VAView Profile Authors Info & Claims UIST '90: Proceedings of the 3rd annual ACM SIGGRAPH symposium on User interface software and technologyAugust 1990 Pages 123–134https://doi.org/10.1145/97924.97939Online:01 August 1990Publication History 11citation671DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations11Total Downloads671Last 12 Months41Last 6 weeks0 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

Facilities that support distributed transactions on user-defined types can be implemented efficiently and can simplify the construction of reliable distributed programs.To demonstrate these points, this paper describes a prototype transaction facility, called TABS, that supports objects, transparent communication, synchronization, recovery, and transaction management.Various objects that use the facilities of TABS are exemplified and the performance of the system is discussed in detail.The paper concludes that the prototype provides useful facilities, and that it would be feasible to build a high performance implementation based on its ideas.