Mode (computer interface)

In user interface design, a mode is a distinct setting within a computer program or any physical machine interface, in which the same user input will produce perceived different results than it would in other settings. The best-known modal interface components are probably the Caps lock and Insert keys on the standard computer keyboard, both of which put the user's typing into a different mode after being pressed, then return it to the regular mode after being re-pressed.

An interface that uses no modes is known as a modeless interface. Modeless interfaces intend to avoid mode errors by making it impossible for the user to commit them.

Definition

A precise definition is given by Jef Raskin in his book The Humane Interface:

"An human-machine interface is modal with respect to a given gesture when (1) the current state of the interface is not the user's locus of attention and (2) the interface will execute one among several different responses to the gesture, depending on the system's current state." (Page 42).

Mode (literature)

In literature, a mode is an employed method or approach, identifiable within a written work. As descriptive terms, form and genre are often used inaccurately instead of mode; for example, the pastoral mode is often mistakenly identified as a genre. The Writers Web site feature, A List of Important Literary Terms, defines mode thus:

History of mode

In his Poetics, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle uses 'mode' in a more specific sense. Kinds of 'poetry' (the term includes drama, flute music, and lyre music for Aristotle), he writes, may be differentiated in three ways: according to their medium of imitation, according to their objects of imitation, and according to their mode or 'manner' of imitation (section I). "For the medium being the same, and the objects the same, the poet may imitate by narration—in which case he can either take another personality as Homer does, or speak in his own person, unchanged—or he may present all his characters as living and moving before us" (section III). According to this definition, 'narrative' and 'dramatic' are modes of fiction:

Mode (music)

In the theory of Western music, mode (from Latin modus, "measure, standard, manner, way, size, limit of quantity, method") (Powers 2001, Introduction; OED) generally refers to a type of scale, coupled with a set of characteristic melodic behaviours. This use, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the Middle Ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.

Mode as a general concept

Regarding the concept of mode as applied to pitch relationships generally, Harold S. Powers proposed mode as a general term but limited for melody types, which were based on the modal interpretation of ancient Greek octave species called tonos (τόνος) or harmonia (ἁρμονία), with "most of the area between ... being in the domain of mode" (Powers 2001, §I,3). This synthesis between tonus as a church tone and the older meaning associated with an octave species was done by medieval theorists for the Western monodic plainchant tradition (see Hucbald and Aurelian). It is generally assumed that Carolingian theorists imported monastic Octoechos propagated in the patriarchates of Jerusalem (Mar Saba) and Constantinople (Stoudios Monastery) which meant the eight echoi they used for the composition of hymns (e.g., Wellesz 1954, 41 ff.), though direct adaptations of Byzantine chants in the survived Gregorian repertoire are extremely rare.

DotGNU

DotGNU is a decommissioned part of the GNU Project that aims to provide a free software replacement for Microsoft's .NET Framework by Free Software Foundation. Other goals of the project are better support for non-Windows platforms and support for more processors.

The main goal of the DotGNU project code base was to provide a class library that is 100% Common Language Specification (CLS) compliant.

Main development projects

Portable.NET

DotGNU Portable.NET, an implementation of the ECMA-335 Common Language Infrastructure (CLI), includes software to compile and run Visual Basic .NET, C#, and C applications that use the .NET base class libraries, XML, and Windows Forms. Portable.NET claims to support various instruction set architectures including x86, PPC, ARM, and SPARC.

phpGroupWare

phpGroupWare, a multi-user web-based GroupWare suite, which also serves to provide a collection of webservice components that can be accessed through XML-RPC so that can easily integrate them into webservice applications.

Wildebeest

The wildebeests, also called gnus or wildebai, are a genus of antelopes, Connochaetes. They belong to the family Bovidae, which includes antelopes, cattle, goats, sheep and other even-toed horned ungulates. Connochaetes includes two species, both native to Africa: the black wildebeest, or white-tailed gnu (C. gnou); and the blue wildebeest, or brindled gnu (C. taurinus). Fossil records suggest these two species diverged about one million years ago, resulting in a northern and a southern species. The blue wildebeest remained in its original range and changed very little from the ancestral species, while the black wildebeest changed more in order to adapt to its open grassland habitat in the south. The most obvious way of telling the two species apart are the differences in their colouring and in the way their horns are oriented.

In East Africa, the blue wildebeest is the most abundant big game species and some populations perform an annual migration to new grazing grounds but the black wildebeest is merely nomadic. Breeding in both takes place over a short period of time at the end of the rainy season and the calves are soon active and are able to move with the herd. Nevertheless, some fall prey to large carnivores. Wildebeest often graze in mixed herds with zebra which gives heightened awareness of potential predators. They are also alert to the warning signals emitted by other animals such as baboons. Wildebeest are a tourist attraction but compete with domesticated livestock for pasture and are sometimes blamed by farmers for transferring diseases and parasites to their cattle. Some illegal hunting goes on but the population trend is fairly stable and some populations are in national parks or on private land. The IUCN lists both species as being of "least concern".

GNU

GNU ⁱ/ɡnuː/ is an operating system project and an extensive collection of computer software. GNU is composed wholly of free software.

GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix!", chosen because GNU's design is Unix-like, but differs from Unix by being free software and containing no Unix code. The GNU project includes an operating system kernel, GNU HURD, which was the original focus of the Free Software Foundation (FSF). However, non-GNU kernels, most famously the Linux kernel, can also be used with GNU software; and since the kernel is the least mature part of GNU, this is how it is usually used. The combination of GNU software and the Linux kernel is commonly known as Linux (or less frequently GNU/Linux; see GNU/Linux naming controversy).

GNU is still missing some components to make it a full operating system that a person can readily install and use on a computer, specifically a fully functioning kernel. In practice, most usable GNU-based operating systems are Linux distributions. They contain the Linux kernel, GNU components and software from many other free software projects.

Stand (Jewel song)

"Stand" is a song by American pop singer–songwriter Jewel from her fourth studio album, 0304 (2003). Written and produced by Jewel and Lester Mendez, and released as the album's second single in October 2003 in the United States and later on internationally, the single failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached number sixteen on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart, and also became Jewel's third consecutive chart-topper on the Hot Dance Club Play.

Background and writing

"Stand" was written and produced by Kilcher and Lester Mendez.

Critical reception

Todd Burns from Stylus Magazine wrote that "It is a strong first song and while the lyrics are vaguely suspect, they can be ignored in favor of the driving beat."

Commercial release

The single edit saw no alteration from its original version. However, it was listed as Single Mix on some promotional singles, which is no different from the album version.

"Stand" was released in two formats in the U.S.; the CD single contains "Stand" and the 0304 trumpet-driven track "Leave the Lights On" as a coupling track, while the CD maxi single contains the song's club mixes. Both singles contained two different covers. International singles received the title track and some club mixes for its final release.