klee@decwrl.dec.com (Ken Lee) (11/30/89)
There have been alot of requests for X references lately, so I'm sending
this out again. I've updated it to include some recent stuff.
Ken
===================== cut here =====================
_X _T_E_C_H_N_I_C_A_L _B_I_B_L_I_O_G_R_A_P_H_Y
compiled by Ken Lee
send updates to klee@decwrl.dec.com
Asente, Paul, "Simplicity and Productivity," _U_N_I_X _R_e_v_i_e_w, vol. 6,
no. 9, pp. 57-63. A discussion on the classing mechanism in
the X Toolkit.
ASP, Inc., _X _M_a_n_u_a_l _S_e_t (_3 _v_o_l_u_m_e_s), ASP, Inc., 1989. A copy of
the MIT X11R3 manual set. Volume 1 covers popular client
programs. Volume 2 covers Xlib. Volume 3 covers Xt and the
Athena widgets. An upcoming Volume 4 covers Motif.
ASP, Inc., _X _R_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e _S_e_t (_3 _v_o_l_u_m_e_s), ASP, Inc., 1989. A 3
volume set of quick reference guides covering Xlib, Xt,
Athena widgets, and popular clients.
Baldwin, Howard, "Why All The Shouting Over X Terminals?," _U_N_I_X
_W_o_r_l_d, _N_e_t_w_o_r_k_i_n_g _S_u_p_p_l_e_m_e_n_t, pp. 75-81, 1989. A broad look
at X terminals, with details on 6 vendor's products.
Brunet, James, "Using PC's at X Servers," _U_N_I_X _W_o_r_l_d, _N_e_t_w_o_r_k_i_n_g
_S_u_p_p_l_e_m_e_n_t, pp. 83-85, 1989. An introduction to X server
software for IBM PC's.
Brunhoff, Todd, "Pleasing The Eye," _U_N_I_X _R_e_v_i_e_w, vol. 7, no. 10,
pp. 64-72, November, 1989. An introduction to VEX, the pro-
posed video extension to X.
Cashin, Jerry, "Many Struggle to Set Laws of Windows Game,"
_S_o_f_t_w_a_r_e _M_a_g_a_z_i_n_e, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 74-79, February, 1989.
A description of the players in the window system standards
war. Includes a photo of Bob Scheifler.
Champine, George, Bob Scheifler, Jim Gettys, Georges Grinstein,
and Bertram Herzog, "Panel discussion on the X Window Sys-
tem," in _S_I_G_G_R_A_P_H'_8_8 _P_a_n_e_l _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s, August, 1988. This
is the transcript of an interesting panel discussion on X.
George Champine was moderator. Panelists were Bob Scheifler,
Jim Gettys, Georges Grinstein, and Bertram Herzog. The
panelists discussed the history of X and current work at/on
the X Consortium, PEX, and national and international stan-
dards for X. This was followed by a lively question and
answer session on the present and future of X.
Farrow, Rik, "Before their time?," _U_N_I_X _W_o_r_l_d, pp. 75-81, July,
1989. This article describes X terminals in general and
compares two models. The comparison is, unfortunately, not
especially meaningful.
Gancarz, M., "UWM: A User Interface for X Windows," in _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_-
_i_n_g_s _o_f _t_h_e _S_u_m_m_e_r, _1_9_8_6 _U_S_E_N_I_X _C_o_n_f_e_r_e_n_c_e, pp. 429-440.
- 2 -
Describes UWM, the first good window manager for X.
Gettys, Jim, "Problems Implementing Window Systems in UNIX," in
_P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s _o_f _t_h_e _W_i_n_t_e_r, _1_9_8_6 _U_S_E_N_I_X _C_o_n_f_e_r_e_n_c_e, pp. 89-
97. Describes some of the early work on X.
Gettys, Jim, "Flexibility Is Key To Meet Requirements For X Win-
dow System Design," _C_o_m_p_u_t_e_r _T_e_c_h_n_o_l_o_g_y _R_e_v_i_e_w, pp. 87-89,
Summer, 1988. A high level description of the X Window Sys-
tem.
Hancock, Bill, "DECwindows: X'ing With A Vengeance," _D_E_C _P_r_o_f_e_s_-
_s_i_o_n_a_l, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 70-84, February, 1989. A
description of DECwindows, DEC's product version of X. It
includes the standard X libraries, plus a tuned X server, a
high-level user interface description language, and several
X applications.
Hopgood, F. R. A., _M_e_t_h_o_d_o_l_o_g_y _o_f _W_i_n_d_o_w _M_a_n_a_g_e_m_e_n_t, Springer-
Verlag, New York, 1986. ISBN 0-387-16116-3. The proceed-
ings of the important 1985 Alvey Workshop on Window Manage-
ment. Many of the big names apparently were here. It in-
cludes interesting material on problems with UNIX window
systems and proposed solutions. It also includes descrip-
tions of early versions of current UNIX window systems, such
as X and NeWS.
Johnson, Eric and Kevin Reichard, _X _W_i_n_d_o_w _A_p_p_l_i_c_a_t_i_o_n_s _P_r_o_g_r_a_m_-
_m_i_n_g, MIS: Press. ISBN 1-55828-016-2. A tutorial on Xlib
programming. This book has lots and lots of examples, but
coverage of complex subjects is thinner than Jones' book.
Jones, Oliver, _I_n_t_r_o_d_u_c_t_i_o_n _t_o _t_h_e _X _W_i_n_d_o_w _S_y_s_t_e_m, Prentice-
Hall, 1988. ISBN 0-13-499997-5. An excellent introduction
to programming with Xlib. Written with the programmer in
mind, this book includes many practical tips that are not
written anywhere else. You'll still need the MIT Xlib manu-
al, as this book does not try to be totally complete. High-
ly recommended for beginning Xlib programmers.
Lee, Ed, "Window of Opportunity," _U_N_I_X _R_e_v_i_e_w, vol. 6, no. 6, pp.
47-61. This article proposes a user interface reference
model and shows how X attempts to meet it. In the process,
it presents a good, broad overview of X, its advantages, and
its shortcomings.
Leffler, Samuel J., "A Window On The Future?," _U_N_I_X _R_e_v_i_e_w, vol.
6, no. 6, pp. 62-69. This article compares NeWS with other
window systems, such as X, and concludes that, despite its
problems, NeWS is the window system of the future.
Lemke, David and David S. H. Rosenthal, "Visualizing X11
Clients," in _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s _o_f _t_h_e _W_i_n_t_e_r, _1_9_8_9 _U_S_E_N_I_X _C_o_n_f_e_r_-
_e_n_c_e, pp. 125-138. A detailed look at "visuals", the X con-
- 3 -
cept that abstracts the properties of popular display
hardware. Proper consideration of visuals is necessary for
an X client to work with all hardware supported by X.
Linton, Mark A., John M. Vlissides, and Paul R. Calder, "Compos-
ing User Interfaces with InterViews," _I_E_E_E _C_o_m_p_u_t_e_r, vol.
22, no. 2, pp. 65-84, February, 1989. Describes the Inter-
Views user interface toolkit, written in C++ and based on
the X Window System. The source code for Interviews is in
the ``contrib'' section of the X11 distribution.
Macklem, Rick, Jim Linders, and Hugh Smith, "G Shell Environ-
ment," in _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s _o_f _t_h_e _S_u_m_m_e_r, _1_9_8_8 _U_S_E_N_I_X _C_o_n_f_e_r_e_n_c_e,
pp. 15-22. Describes a rudimentary graphical UNIX shell
written as a X client.
McCormack, Joel and Paul Asente, "Using the X Toolkit or How to
Write a Widget," in _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s _o_f _t_h_e _S_u_m_m_e_r, _1_9_8_8 _U_S_E_N_I_X
_C_o_n_f_e_r_e_n_c_e, pp. 1-13. An excellent tutorial on writing
basic X Toolkit widgets. Potential widget writers (and
maybe users, too) should probably start by reading this pa-
per. Unfortunately, it's based on X11R2, so some of it is
out of date.
McCormack, Joel and Paul Asente, "An Overview of the X Toolkit,"
in _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s _o_f _t_h_e _A_C_M _S_I_G_G_R_A_P_H _S_y_m_p_o_s_i_u_m _o_n _U_s_e_r _I_n_t_e_r_-
_f_a_c_e _S_o_f_t_w_a_r_e, pp. 46-55, October, 1988. An excelent archi-
tectural overview of the X Toolkit, including its goals, how
it accomplished them, and possible future directions.
McCormack, Joel, Paul Asente, and Ralph Swick, _X _T_o_o_l_k_i_t _I_n_t_r_i_n_-
_s_i_c_s - _C _L_a_n_g_u_a_g_e _I_n_t_e_r_f_a_c_e, DEC Press, 1989. Not yet pub-
lished, but should be a much improved version of the MIT X
Toolkit intrinsics manual, by the same authors.
McCormack, Joel, "Smart Code, Stupid Memory: A Fast X Server for
a Dumb ColorFrame Buffer," DEC Western Research Laboratory
Technical Note 9, September, 1989. Describes the implemen-
tation of one of the best X servers currently available,
that of the color DECstation 3100. Algorithms as well as
performance measurements are discussed. For information on
obtaining free copies of this report, send eletronic mail to
"wrl-techreports@decwrl.dec.com". Your message should con-
tain the single word "help".
McLoughlin, Lee, "A Simple Guide to Porting the X Window System,"
in _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s _o_f _E_U_U_G _S_p_r_i_n_g _1_9_8_9, pp. 283-291, Brussels,
April 3-7, 1989. A brief, but good, discussion of the in-
terface between the X server and the underlying operating
system.
MIPS Staff, "Graphical User Interfaces Now," _M_I_P_S _M_a_g_a_z_i_n_e, vol.
1, no. 11, pp. 42-50, November, 1989. A comparison of popu-
lar user interfaces including Microsoft Presentation
- 4 -
Manager, NextStep, Macintosh, Motif, and Open Look. Motif
and Open Look are both available for the X Window System.
The IXI X.desktop and Visix Looking Glass UNIX file
managers, both based on X, are also mentioned.
Morris, Robert R. and William E. Brooks, "Unix Versus OS/2: A
Graphical Comparison," _P_C _T_e_c_h _J_o_u_r_n_a_l, vol. 7, no. 2,
February, 1989. A comparison of X and Presentation Manager.
I think this is the same Robert Morris that is internation-
ally famous for his work on computer networking.
Myers, Brad A., "Window Interfaces: A Taxonomy of Window Manager
User Interfaces," _I_E_E_E _C_o_m_p_u_t_e_r _G_r_a_p_h_i_c_s & _A_p_p_l_i_c_a_t_i_o_n_s,
vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 65-84, September, 1988. A taxonomy of
current window system user interfaces, including the X UWM
window manager. Discusses and compares the features of each
user interface. Myers is a well known user interface
researcher.
Nadeau, David R., "High-Performance 3-D Graphics In A Window En-
vironment," _C_o_m_p_u_t_e_r _T_e_c_h_n_o_l_o_g_y _R_e_v_i_e_w, pp. 89-93, Fall,
1988. A discussion on integrating Megatek's high-
performance 3D graphics hardware/software with X.
Nye, Adrian, "The X Window System Protocol," _U_N_I_X _W_o_r_l_d, pp.
105-113, September, 1989. A high-level description of the X
protocol.
O'Reilly, Tim, "The Toolkits (and Politics) of X Windows," _U_N_I_X
_W_o_r_l_d, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 66-73, February, 1989. An intro-
duction to some of the popular widget sets available for the
X Toolkit.
O'Reilly and Associates, _T_h_e _X _W_i_n_d_o_w _S_y_s_t_e_m _S_e_r_i_e_s (_4 _v_o_l_u_m_e_s),
O'Reilly and Associates, 1988, 1989. ISBN 0-937175-26-9,
0-937175-27-7, etc. This is a 4 (and growing) volume set of
books. Volume 1 is a new tutorial on Xlib. Volumes 0, 2, and
3 are approximately the same as the MIT manuals (protocol
manual, Xlib manual pages, and popular client manual pages).
Some are based on X11R2, but an X11R3 supplement is avail-
able. Future volumes will reportedly cover the X Toolkit in-
trinsics, XView, and Motif. Written by technical writers,
these are probably the most professional looking of the X
books.
Pike, Rob, "Window Systems Should Be Transparent," _U_S_E_N_I_X _C_o_m_p_u_t_-
_i_n_g _S_y_s_t_e_m_s, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 279-296, Summer, 1988. Some
window system user interface guidelines, based on MUX window
system for the BLIT terminal, with some comparisons to X.
Contrast this to Myers' paper. Pike is the developer of the
BLIT.
Pike, Rob, "A Concurrent Window System," _U_S_E_N_I_X _C_o_m_p_u_t_i_n_g _S_y_s_-
_t_e_m_s, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 133-153, Spring, 1989. A descrip-
- 5 -
tion of a multi-threaded window system written using a con-
current programming language. The design is shown to be
simpler than the single threaded design of X.
Probst, Richard, "OPEN LOOK Toolkits," _S_u_n_T_e_c_h_n_o_l_o_g_y, vol. 1, no.
4, pp. 76-86, Autumn, 1988. OPEN LOOK is a user interface
specification designed by AT&T and Sun. This paper discusses
OPEN LOOK programming toolkits, including two for the X Win-
dow System.
Rao, R. and S. Wallace, "The X Toolkit," in _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s _o_f _t_h_e
_S_u_m_m_e_r, _1_9_8_7 _U_S_E_N_I_X _C_o_n_f_e_r_e_n_c_e.
Rochkind, Marc J., "XVT: A Virtual Toolkit for Portability
Between Window Systems," in _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s _o_f _t_h_e _W_i_n_t_e_r, _1_9_8_9
_U_S_E_N_I_X _C_o_n_f_e_r_e_n_c_e, pp. 151-163. Describes the Extensible
Virtual Toolkit (XVT), a user interface toolkit that pro-
vides a uniform application programming interface to several
different window systems, while providing the ``look and
feel'' appropriate for the window system. Supported window
systems include X11, Microsoft Windows, OS/2 Presentation
Manager, and the Macintosh.
Rosenthal, David S., "A Simple X.11 Client Program, or, How Hard
Can It Really Be to Write `Hello, World'?," in _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s
_o_f _t_h_e _W_i_n_t_e_r, _1_9_8_8 _U_S_E_N_I_X _C_o_n_f_e_r_e_n_c_e, pp. 229-235. A ver-
sion of the "hello, world" paper, presenting and comparing
the basics of the X library and the X Toolkit. All poten-
tial X programmers (Xlib or X toolkit) should understand
everything in this paper before they attempt writing any X
programs. Included in the MIT X distribution.
Rost, Randi, Jeffrey Friedberg, and Peter Nishimoto, "PEX: A
Network-Transparent 3D Graphics System," _I_E_E_E _C_o_m_p_u_t_e_r
_G_r_a_p_h_i_c_s & _A_p_p_l_i_c_a_t_i_o_n_s, pp. 14-26, July, 1989. A good
overview of PEX, the PHIGS/PHIGS+ 3D extension to X. A com-
plete PEX is currently being developed by Sun under contract
to the MIT X Consortium and is scheduled to be publically
available in 1990.
Schaufler, Robin, "X11/NeWS Design Overview," in _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s _o_f
_t_h_e _S_u_m_m_e_r, _1_9_8_8 _U_S_E_N_I_X _C_o_n_f_e_r_e_n_c_e, pp. 23-35. Discusses
Sun's X/NeWS server. Compares the functionality of X and
NeWS and describes a server that merges the two.
Scheifler, Robert, James Gettys, and Ron Newman, _X _W_i_n_d_o_w _S_y_s_t_e_m:
_C _L_i_b_r_a_r_y _a_n_d _P_r_o_t_o_c_o_l _R_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e, DEC Press, 1988. ISBN 1-
55558-012-2. The Xlib bible by the authors of X11, shipped
with the X11R3 tapes. Includes detailed descriptions of the
X protocol and all Xlib functions and data structures. Re-
quired for all serious Xlib programmers, but may be rough
going for those with little experience in interactive com-
puter graphics. An X11R4 version of this book is in prepara-
tion.
- 6 -
Scheifler, Robert W. and Jim Gettys, "The X Window System," _A_C_M
_T_r_a_n_s_a_c_t_i_o_n_s _o_n _G_r_a_p_h_i_c_s, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 79-109, April,
1986. The first published description of X. Although it
discusses X10, it is still one of the most comprehensive
overviews of X. An updated X11 version is reportedly being
written by Jim Gettys.
Schuman, Evan, "Motif Holds Top Card In GUI Hand," _U_N_I_X _T_o_d_a_y, p.
1, July 10, 1989. Presents the results of a survey of
software vendors on their preference of Open Look vs. Motif.
Southerton, Alan, "Friendly Desktops," _U_N_I_X _W_o_r_l_d, vol. 6, no.
11, pp. 68-73, November, 1989. Another comparison of X-
based UNIX file managers, including Non Standard Logic In-
Depth, IXI X.Desktop, Visix Looking Glass, AT&T Open Look,
Torch Technologies Y-OpenTop, and Softscience Convenience
Plus.
Swick, Ralph R. and Mark S. Ackerman, "The X Toolkit: More
Bricks for Building User Interfaces," in _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s _o_f _t_h_e
_W_i_n_t_e_r, _1_9_8_8 _U_S_E_N_I_X _C_o_n_f_e_r_e_n_c_e, pp. 221-233. An introduc-
tion to the X Toolkit. Describes the toolkit architecture
and the basic Athena widgets.
Thomas, Spencer W. and Martin Friedmann, "PEX - A 3-D Extension
to X Windows," in _P_r_o_c_e_e_d_i_n_g_s _o_f _t_h_e _W_i_n_t_e_r, _1_9_8_9 _U_S_E_N_I_X
_C_o_n_f_e_r_e_n_c_e, pp. 139-149. Describes the demonstration imple-
mentation of PEX, the PHIGS/PHIGS+ 3D extension to X. A com-
plete PEX is currently being developed by Sun under contract
to the MIT X Consortium and is scheduled to be publically
available in 1990.
X/Open Company, Ltd., _X/_O_p_e_n _P_o_r_t_a_b_i_l_i_t_y _G_u_i_d_e: _W_i_n_d_o_w _M_a_n_a_g_e_-
_m_e_n_t, Prentice-Hall, 1988. X/Open is an international user
group of UNIX hardware and software developers. It publishes
portability guidelines with the goal that developers that
follow these guidelines will be portable across other
hardware and software supporting the guidelines. The X/Open
window management guidelines are almost identical to the
X11R3 specifications.
Young, Doug, _X _W_i_n_d_o_w _S_y_s_t_e_m_s _P_r_o_g_r_a_m_m_i_n_g _a_n_d _A_p_p_l_i_c_a_t_i_o_n_s _W_i_t_h
_X_t, Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-972167-3. An excellent tutori-
al on programming with the Xt intrinsics. Examples in this
book use the HP widgets, but a Motif edition will released
this fall.
--
Ken Lee
DEC Western Software Laboratory, Palo Alto, Calif.
Internet: klee@decwrl.dec.com
uucp: uunet!decwrl!klee