CS 349 Resources

• X
• Java
• Android
• Timing
• Subversion
• Videos
• Design

X

• Tutorials:
  • A tutorial, Basic Graphics Programming With The Xlib Library (highly recommended): Part I and Part II.
  • http://www.sbin.org/doc/Xlib/
• The XLib Manual: An HTML version of the documentation from the X Consortium. The HTML version is also available for download here (to your personal computer, please). The equivalent document, for X11R6.7, is available as a PDF here. The document was automatically converted from Postscript; the table of contents is at the END of the document for some reason.
• The X Window System, by Robert W. Scheifler and Jim Gettys, in ACM Transactions on Graphics, Vol. 5, No. 2, April 1986, pages 79-109, outlines the basic design goals of the X window system and gives an overview of its implementation.
• Sample Programs:
  • x1_openWindow.cpp
  • x2_simpleDrawing.cpp
  • xdemo_draw.cpp: Demonstrates a display list, keyboard input, mouse input, handling a damaged window. C++ code base.
  • xdemo_clip.c: Demonstrates the clipping region.

Java

Coming Soon.

Android

Coming Soon.

Timing

• To get time to a fairly high degree of resolution, use gettimeofday(struct timeval * tv , struct timezone * tz). Header is <sys/time.h>
• To sleep with fairly high resolution, you can use usleep(useconds_t useconds). Header is <unistd.h>.

Subversion

• Version Control with Subversion is the standard reference.

Videos

• The Avro Arrow's User Interface (excepts from the CBC docudrama, The Arrow).

Design

• The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald A. Norman (Basic Books, 1988 and 2002). Norman explores the design of everyday things -- light switches, doors, telephones, cars, and some computers. Along the way he delves into principles useful to user interfaces as well as trying to develop a better understanding of users.
• The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems, by Jef Raskin (Addison-Wesley, 2000). Jef was the chief designer of the Apple Macintosh and ushered in the current desktop metaphor.
• The GUI Design Handbook, Susan Fowler and Victor Stanwick.
  This book is now out of print but is available on the web at http://www.fast-consulting.com/desktop.htm. It gives an overview of many different kinds of user interface components with guidance on what they are good for, how they are commonly misused, and helpful design guidelines. Not tied to any particular api.
• Designing from both sides of the screen, by Ellen Isaacs and Alan Walendowski (New Riders Publishing, 2002). Ellen is an interaction designer and Alan is a software engineer. They team up to explain in very clear and readable language how they designed a instant messaging system. They illustrate basic principles very concretely.
• GUI Bloopers: The Don'ts and Do's for Software Developers and Web Designers, by Jeff Johnson (Morgan Kauffman, 2000). This book compiles a lot of wisdom in an easily accessible format. It's illustrated with both positive and negative examples