klee@daisy.UUCP (Ken Lee) (02/08/89)
I've been getting alot of requests for this and I've added more stuff
to it, so here it is again. Due to the plethora of low quality
articles out there, I've only included those that I feel are
technically significant or for some other reason worth while. This
includes material through the USENIX conference last week.
Of course, this is only material that I know of. Please send me any
updates. If you wrote the paper, and it's not too much trouble, could
you please mail me a copy? My address is Ken Lee, Daisy Systems Corp.,
700 E. Middlefield Road, Mountain View, CA 94039 or klee@daisy.uucp.
Thanks much.
Ken Lee
=========================== 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, Daisy Systems Corp.
send updates to klee@daisy.uucp
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.
Cashin, Jerry, "Many Strudggle 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.
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.
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.
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. The proceedings of the important
1985 Alvery Workshop on Window Management. Many of the big
names apparently were here. It includes interesting materi-
al on problems with UNIX window systems and proposed solu-
tions. It also includes descriptions of early versions of
current UNIX window systems, such as X and NeWS.
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. An excellent introduction to programming with
Xlib. Includes many practical tips that are not written
anywhere else. You'll still need the MIT Xlib manual, as
this book does not try to be totally complete. Highly
recommended for beginning Xlib programmers.
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.
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.
- 2 -
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. An indepth look at ``visuals'', the X
object that abstracts the properties of popular display
hardware. Proper consideration toward 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 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 architectural
overview of the toolkit's goals, how it accomplished them,
and possible future directions.
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, _T_h_e _X _W_i_n_d_o_w _S_y_s_t_e_m _S_e_r_i_e_s, _3 _v_o_l_u_m_e_s, O'Reilly and
Associates, 1988. Based on the MIT X11R2 manuals. Volume 1
includes some new tutorial information and volume 3
discusses some of the popular X clients (window managers,
terminal emulators, etc.). These manuals claim to be a su-
perset of the MIT manuals, but there are some discrepancies
and controversies in the presentation.
- 3 -
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.
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.
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, 1986. 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, MS-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.
Rosenthal, David S., "Going For Baroque," _U_N_I_X _R_e_v_i_e_w, vol. 6,
no. 6, pp. 71-79. Another version of the "hello, world" pa-
per.
Rost, Randi J., "Adding a Dimension to X," _U_N_I_X _R_e_v_i_e_w, vol. 6,
no. 10, pp. 51-59. A description of the PEX 3D extension to
X.
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.
- 4 -
Scheifler, Robert, James Gettys, and Ron Newman, _X _W_i_n_d_o_w _S_y_s_t_e_m,
DEC Press, 1988. An enhanced version of the X11R3 Xlib
manuals, by the same authors.
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
descriptions of X. An updated X11 version is reportedly be-
ing written by Jim Gettys.
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 extention to X.
Source code for this demonstration is included with X11R3. A
complete PEX is currently being devoped by Sun under con-
tract to the MIT X Consortium and is scheduled to be publi-
cally available in 1990.
--
klee@daisy.uucp
Daisy Systems Corp., Interactive Graphics Tools Dept.