Abstract
The so-called “User’s Conceptual Model” (UCM) now occupies a place of importance in the design of the user interface of interactive (computer graphics) systems. At the computer side of the interface there has been much excellent research done on (graphical) input tools, culminating in the ideas that now form the basis for the Graphical Kernel System (GKS) Version 7.2 input functions. On the user’s side of the interface there is still much to be done. It is envisaged that models of UCMs will form the basis of an Information/Knowledge/Data Base that is accessed by a “User Interface Management System” (UIMS), an integrated collection of software tools whose function it is to enable the specification, implementation and maintenance of a user-computer interface that is “user-oriented” and (self-)adaptive. The formal specification of such UCMs is a natural prerequisite for that of the user-computer dialogue. A formalism based on Minsky’s frame theory and an extension of the Vienna Development Method (VDM) is outlined in this paper. Taking “user” to mean “application programmer”, I present examples taken from a model of a UCM of GKS Version 7.2. Canonical encodings are presented in Ada 1 and canonical semantics in Anna, a language for annotating Ada programs.
Published Version
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