Graphical User Interface or GUI

1
Table of Contents
Abstract 2
Introduction 3
Chapters 4-11
Conclusion 12
Bibliography 13
Chapter 1 Emergence of GUI 4-5
1.1 Early Developments of GUI 4
Chapter 2 Programming Languages in GUI 6-7
2.1 Types of Programming Language 6
2.2 Programming Language Used for Creating GUI 6
Sample Program 7
Chapter 3 Operating Systems of GUI 8-9
3.1 Some Popular GUI Operating System 8
3.2 Examples of GUI Interface 8
Sample Figure 9
Chapter 4 Interaction, Benefits & Working Process of GUI 10
4.1 Working Process of GUI & User Interact with GUI 10
4.2 Benefits of GUI & Why it is Popular Now? 10
Chapter 5 CLI vs GUI 11
5.1 Difference of GUI & CLI 11

2
GUI: Art of Graphical Icon
ABSTRACT
The graphical user interface (GUI), is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with
electronic devices through graphical icons and visual indicators such as secondary notation,
instead of text-based user interfaces, typed command labels or text navigation. GUIs were
introduced in reaction to the perceived steep learning curve of command-line
interfaces (CLIs), which require commands to be typed on a computer keyboard. The actions in
a GUI are usually performed through direct manipulation of the graphical elements. GUI is not
only used in computer but also it used in mobile devices and video game devices etc. GUI has a
wide range of history on its different appearance. Every time it comes with different idea and
with great attractiveness. A GUI uses a combination of technologies and devices to provide a
platform that user can interact with, for the tasks of gathering and producing information. This
paper will advocate about the history of GUI and will cover the topic, how people (who have idea
in programming) can make GUI using different programming language and how GUI works and
also comparison between other interfaces. Also it will show examples of GUI and will discuss
about the benefits of GUI.

3
INTRODUCTION
The concept of a multi-panel windowing system was introduced by the first authentic-time
graphic exhibit systems for computers: the SAGE Project and Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad. In
early 1963 Ivan Sutherland developed Sketchpad, widely held as the first graphical computer-
availed design program. It used a light pen to creating and manipulating objects in engineering
drawings in real time with coordinated graphics. A GUI uses an amalgamation (combination) of
technologies and devices to provide a platform so that users can interact with, for the tasks of
amassing (gathering) and engendering (producing) information. The Xerox Alto was the first
device to use a graphical user interface. But before it need to develop which was not that easy.
And every time it comes, it comes up with many great ideas. GUI mainly interact with keyboard
or mouse or any game controller devices.

4
EMERGENCE OF GUI
1.1: Early Developments of GUI
Everything we are utilizing in this modern world are not invented easily or not made in a day.
Everything has its own history of development and many ups and downs and many bad ideas
as well as good ideas. GUI (Graphical User Interface or gooey) is also not behind that. It has
also its own history of development.
As we early said in introduction, that GUI was first introduced through Ivan Sutherland’s
sketchpad. Which utilized a light pen to engender (create) and manipulate objects in
engineering drawings in realtime with coordinated graphics. In late 1960s, researchers of
Stanford Research Institute developed the most important thing- such as mouse for better
interaction with the graphical user interface. Then in 1970s, Engelbart's conceptions were
further refined and extended to graphics by researchers at Xerox PARC and specifically Alan
Kay, who went beyond text-based hyperlinks and utilized a GUI as the main interface for the
Xerox Alto computer, which was released in 1973. The Alto greatly influenced the design of
personal computers during the late 1970s and early 1980s, notably the Three Rivers PERQ, the
Apple Lisa and Macintosh, and the first Sun workstations.
The Xerox PARC used windows, icons, and menus (including the first fine-tuned drop-down
menu) to support commands such as opening files, deleting (effacing) files, moving files, etc. In
1974, work commenced at PARC on Gypsy, the first bitmap What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get
(WYSIWYG) cut & paste editor. In 1975, Xerox engineers demonstrated a Graphical User
Interface "including icons and the first utilization of pop-up menus". But the concepts of icons
were introduced by David Canfield Smith. Xerox Alto was the first computer with a GUI, though
the system never reached commercial production. The first commercial production having GUI
was the 1979 PERQ workstation, manufactured by Three Rivers Computer Corporation. Though
the Xerox PARC development was not stopped there, Xerox eventually commercialized in the
form of a new and enhanced system- the Xerox 8010 information system, specifically known as
Xerox Star. Star was also not commercially successful. But Star greatly influenced future
developments, for example at Apple Lisa (which presented the concept of menu bars and
window controls), Microsoft and Sun Microsystems. The Apple Macintosh 128K in1984, and the
Atari ST with Digital Research's GEM, and Commodore Amiga in 1985. Visi On was released in
1983 for the IBM PC compatible computers, but was never popular due to its high hardware
demands. Nevertheless, it was a crucial influence on the contemporary development of
Microsoft Windows. Below is a picture of the Windows 7 Desktop and an example of a GUI.

5
Windows 7 GUI
Xerox Alto first device used GUI
GUIs were the most discussed topic in 1980s. The Apple Lisa was released in 1983, and
various windowing systems existed for DOS operating systems (including PC GEM and
PC/GEOS). Individual applications for many platforms presented their own GUI variants.
Accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign, Windows 95 was a major prosperity in the
marketplace at launch and shortly became the most popular desktop operating system. The
GUIs familiar to most people as of the mid-late 2010s are Microsoft Windows, macOS, and the
X Window System interfaces for desktop and laptop computers, and Android, Apple’s iOS,
BlackBerry OS, Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile and Firefox OS for handheld (smartphone)
devices. Modern developers are working on creating 3D user interface and are trying to improve
it more. Examples of 3D user-interface software include XGL and Compiz from Novell, Quartz
Extreme for macOS and Windows 7 Aero interface. [Where, Quartz Compositor is the exhibit
server (and at the same time the compositing window manager) in macOS. It is responsible for
presenting and maintaining rasterized, rendered graphics from the rest of the Core Graphics
framework and other renderers in the Quartz technologies family. And Xgl is an obsolete exhibit
server implementation fortifying (supporting) the X Window System protocol designed to
capitalize on modern graphics cards via their OpenGL drivers, layered on top of OpenGL and
Compiz is a compositing window manager for the X Window System, utilizing 3D graphics
hardware to engender (create) expeditious (fast) compositing desktop effects for window
management.]

6
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES IN GUI
2.1: Types of Programming Language
If you want to show some works of your in computer you need to have knowledge in computer
understandable language. Because, computer don’t understand people language they only
understand 0 and 1. That’s mean they have their own language which is understand by them.
Some of computer understandable languages are:
 FORTRAN
 PASCAL
 C/C++
 Java
 Python
 Haskell
 PHP
 Ada
 Lambda-Calculus etc.
From all the language not all of them is used for creating GUI (graphical user interface).
Because of their hardness for creating software but it is all up-to someone interest. If you know
the hard language (FORTRAN, Lambda-Calculus) then you can go for that. But what we
suggest is go for C/C++ or Java or PHP because these languages are easy to learn and you
have all the necessary tools for creating GUI than other languages.
2.2: Programming Language Used For Creating GUI
It obvious that if people want to create any device related interface that will show in screen of
devices like Mobile, TV, Computers etc. a programming language is must. And there are many
programming language. But, there is a question, that which language people should choice for
creating the Graphical User Interface. There is no bound for that. If you know C/C++ then you
should go with C/C++ and if you know Java or Python then you should go with that language.
But, as you are seeing today’s OS mostly are built in Java or C/C++. Because sometimes you
will find C++ easier to do everything, but the question is how GUI works and what are the
benefits of GUI? An example of simple GUI code is given below in C++:

7
Sample Input:
00 #include <QApplication>
00 #include <QLabel>
00 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
00 {
00 QApplication app(argc, argv);
00 QLabel *label = new QLabel("Hello Qt!");
00 label->show();
00 return app.exec();
00 }
Sample Output:

8
Operating Systems of GUI
3.1: Some Popular GUI Operating System
The operating system (OS) is the most important program that runs on a computer. Every
general-purpose computer must have an operating system to run other programs
and applications. Computer operating systems perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input
from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on
the storage drives, and controlling peripheral devices, such as printers.
For large systems, the operating system has even greater responsibilities and powers. It is like a
traffic cop — it makes sure that different programs and users running at the same time do not
interfere with each other. The operating system is also responsible for security, ensuring that
unauthorized users do not access the system. There are many popular GUI operating systems
but among them some is much better than others. Such as:
1. Microsoft Windows
2. Apple system 7 and macOS
3. Chrome OS
4. Linux variants like Ubuntu etc.
3.2: Examples of GUI interface
Some examples of GUI is given below:
1. GNOME
2. KDE
3. Any Microsoft Program (i.e. Word, Excel, Outlook)
4. Internet browser (i.e. Chrome, Firefox, Safari)
[GNOME stands for- GNU Network Object Model Environment, GNOME is an easy to utilize
graphical user interface (GUI) and a set of computer desktop applications for Unix-based
operating systems.]
[KDE stands for- K Desktop Environment, KDE is an open-source desktop environment utilized
with Unix workstations; which started as a software project by Matthias Ettrich in 1996. KDE has
become a popular GUI and is included with many variants of Linux, BSD, and Solaris.] In the
next page you two examples of two different GUI will clear your thoughts of GUI interface.

9
K Desktop Environment (KDE)
Microsoft Word 2010

10
Interaction, Benefits & Working Process of GUI
4.1: Working Process of GUI & user interact with GUI
Everything in the world has own working process. Because if it was not the earth will stand still.
Graphical User Interface is not behind that. It has also its own working process. The process is
done through a systematic way such as- A GUI uses windows, icons, and menus to carry out
commands, such as opening, deleting, and moving files. Although many GUI operating systems
are navigated through the use of a mouse, the keyboard can additionally be utilized by utilizing
keyboard shortcuts or arrow keys. Typically the utilizer utilizes a pointing device such as the
mouse to interact and utilize most aspects of the GUI. However, it is also possible to interact
with a GUI using a keyboard or other input devices.
4.2: Benefits of GUI & Why it is popular now?
Nothing in this world is without benefits. GUI is also not behind of that. Unlike a command line
operating system or CUI, like Unix or MS-DOS, GUI operating systems are much more facile
(easier) to learn and use because commands do not require to be memorized. Additionally,
users do not require to know any programming languages. Because of their ease of use, GUI
operating systems have become the dominant operating system utilized by today's end-users.
GUI users have windows that enable a utilizer to view, control, manipulate, and toggle through
multiple programs and folders at same time.

11
CLI vs GUI
5.1: Difference of CLI & GUI
Users who are not habituated with a command line interface (CLI) or graphical utilizer interface
(GUI) may want to know the pros and cons of each to help determine what works best for them.
Others may be curious about distinctions between the two. With a heavy focus on file
commands and manipulation, the following table illustrates which interface has the advantage in
certain categories and why.
Topic Command Line (CLI) Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Ease Due to a higher degree of
memorization and familiarity
needed for operation and
navigation, new users find
operating a command line interface
more difficult than a GUI.
Because a GUI is much more visually
intuitive, users typically pick up on how to
utilize a GUI is much faster than a
command line interface.
Control Users have a good bit of control
over both the file and operating
systems in a command line
interface. However, for new or
novice users, it is not as user
friendly as a GUI.
A GUI offers a lot of access to files,
software features, and the operating
system as a whole. Being more utilizer
friendly than a command line, especially
for new or novice users, a GUI is utilized
by more users.
Multitasking Although many command line
environments are capable of
multitasking, they do not offer the
same ease and facility to view
multiple things at once on one
screen.
GUI users have windows that enable a
utilizer to view, control, manipulate, and
toggle through multiple programs and
folders at same time.
Speed Command line users only need to
utilize a keyboard to navigate the
interface, often resulting in much
faster performance.
While more newer technology is making a
GUI much faster and more efficient than
ever before, utilizing both a mouse and
keyboard to navigate and control the GUI
is still marginally more gradual than a
command line interface.
Resources A computer that is only utilizing the
command line takes a lot less of the
computer's system resources than
a GUI.
A GUI requires more system resources
because of the elements that require
loading, such as icons and fonts. Video,
mouse, and other drivers need to be
loaded, taking up additional system
resources.

12
Conclusions
This paper targets on how GUI or graphical user interface works and discussed about the
benefits of GUI. Users who are not habituated with a command line interface (CLI) or graphical
utilizer interface (GUI) may want to know the pros and cons of each to help determine what
works best for them. And this paper tells which is best and why. Because of their ease of use,
GUI operating systems have become the dominant operating system utilized by today's end-
users. GUI users have windows that enable a utilizer to view, control, manipulate, and toggle
through multiple programs and folders at same time. Typically the utilizer utilizes a pointing
device such as the mouse to interact and utilize most aspects of the GUI. However, it is also
possible to interact with a GUI using a keyboard or other input devices.

13
Bibliography
[1] Wikipedia. 2017. WikipediA: the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_user_interface
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_graphical_user_interface
[3] CH. Computer Hope: Free Computer Help Since 1998 Retrieved from
https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/g/gui.htm
[4] CH. Computer Hope: Free Computer Help Since 1998 Retrieved from
https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000619.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME
[7] Jasmin Blanchette and
Mark Summerfield. 2006. C++ GUI Programming (2nd. ed.). Stoughton, Massachusetts,
USA.
[8] W. Webopedia. Retrieved from
https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/g/gui.htm

Graphical User Interface or GUI

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Similar to Graphical User Interface or GUI (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Graphical User Interface or GUI