Reading #4: Skethpad

#4 Skethpad: A HCI system more than 50 years ago

Comments on:

 Wenzhe Li

Summary:

Sketchpad is the first pen-based sketching system. As an example, the author introduces steps to draw a combination of hexagons with the help of circle and defining the relation between them. The author also argues that the construction of a drawing with Sketchpad is actually a model of designing process.

Then, this paper talks about the ring structure of the system. Then the author focus on introducing the design of some main part of the system, like light pen, how to display drawings, the mathematics model of basic shapes and the algorithm of editing shapes, etc.

At the last, this paper shows some interesting application of Sketchpad, such as patterns, bridges and artistic drawings.

Discussion:

Many ideas introduced in this paper are breakthrough at that time. Even though, compare with many devices nowadays, Sketchpad is simply a drawing pad that is not convenient for users, the ideas behind it are the foundation of today’s HCI designing and even for Object-oriented programming.