Sketchpad

1 definition found

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  Sketchpad
       
          A program that allowed users to draw on a screen with a {light
          pen}.  It supported constraints (e.g. drawing a constrained
          ellipse produced a circle).  It also had some {computer aided
          design} features (e.g. computing loads on beams).


       
          Sketchpad was the subject of {Ivan E. Sutherland}'s 1963 {MIT}
          PhD thesis, which opened the field of {computer graphics}.  It
          was the progenitor of computer drawing packages like {MacDraw}
          or {Adobe Illustrator}.  There is a film of Sketchpad in
          action.
       
          It solved {constraint}s using {value inference} and introduced
          the "{ring}" list structure.
       
          ["Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System",
          I.e. Sutherland, MIT Lincoln Lab, TR 296 (Jan 1963)].
       
          [Sammet 1969, p. 678].
       
          (1995-02-14)