User Interfaces
User Interfaces
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Section 10.12.
Activity 2g
Describe custom-written software and off-the-shelf software in terms of:
a availability
b number of bugs.
As we can see in Figure 2.4, the CLI usually consists of a black box with white
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text. In the early days of computing the text was green. In Figure 2.4, on entering
the interface, a prompt C:\Users\guest_8k65j6c> appears. The > symbol tells
the user that they need to type in a command. Here, the command ‘dir’ was
entered, which asked the computer to list the files and directories (folders) that are
in the directory (folder) belonging to the user guest_8k65j6c. Notice that after
executing the command, the original prompt is shown again. In this example
there are no files in this directory, only other directories. The ‘dir’ command is
only one of hundreds of commands which are available in a CLI. It is possible to
2 Hardware and software
do any action with a CLI that could be achieved with a GUI. In fact, it could take
several clicks of the mouse and negotiation through a number of dialogue boxes
and menus in a GUI to achieve the same outcome as a single line of text in a CLI.
Window
Icons
Menu
When CLIs were introduced, commands had to be typed in correctly with any
misspellings potentially causing the system to fail to perform as desired, and this
made the interface clumsy and confusing. There was a need for a less inefficient
means of communicating with the computer, which resulted in the creation of the
GUI. Instead of typing in commands, the GUI used windows, icons, menus and
pointers, collectively known as a ‘WIMP’ interface, to carry out commands, such as
opening, deleting, and moving files. Technically speaking, a WIMP interface is only
a subset of GUI and requires input devices such as a keyboard and mouse, whereas
other types of GUI use different input devices such as a touchscreen. Figure 2.5
shows a window, icons and a menu. A user can double-click on an icon, which could
represent a file, a folder or an application, and open it. A right click on a two-button
mouse opens a menu. By moving the mouse, the pointer can be moved up and
down through the menu and then an option can be selected by clicking on it.
the spoken word into commands it can understand. Many cars have such a system
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whereby the driver is able to control their phone or radio without touching them.
For example the driver is able to initiate a phone call by saying ‘phone Graham’ or
switch a particular radio channel on by saying the name of the channel. Laptops
and PCs often come with voice control these days. The user is able to load and
run software packages and files by speaking into a microphone and saying the
commands. The computer or device responds with spoken words after the required
text has been converted into speech. It requires the device to learn the way the
speaker talks by asking the user to repeat certain sentences until it has ‘learnt’ the
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A gesture may not point exactly at an icon whereas a mouse can be more
accurately controlled, and voice inputs can be misunderstood by the speech-
recognition software.
CLIs and, to an extent, dialogue interfaces require the user to learn a lot of
commands, whereas GUIs and gesture-based interfaces are more user-friendly
and reasonably intuitive. CLIs do tend to be used by IT specialists and require a
certain amount of IT knowledge but this is not the case with GUIs or gesture-
based interfaces. Compared with a GUI, commands entered into a CLI are
2 Hardware and software
far more difficult to correct. There is a degree of editing allowed using the
arrow keys on a keyboard to manoeuvre to the line with the error, but this can
be far more awkward to do than using a mouse, for example. However, CLIs
tend not to change over time and once a user is familiar with one, they do not
have to relearn how to use a changed version. GUIs do tend to develop and
consequently the user has to learn how to use the new version, which can take
time.
Generally, the more advanced the type of interface, and this not only means
GUIs but also includes gesture-based and dialogue interfaces, the faster the
processing is and the greater the storage space required to store the interface
software compared with a CLI. Gesture-based and dialogue interfaces also
tend to be more expensive to develop than CLIs or even GUIs. Some situations
require the use of dialogue interfaces for safety reasons. A driver in a vehicle may
wish to play a particular piece of music using their in-car entertainment system.
To select it using a GUI or a gesture would require taking a hand off the
steering wheel, which could be dangerous, whereas using their voice through a
dialogue interface would not.
Activity 2h
1 Write down two advantages of using a GUI rather than a CLI.
2 Write down two disadvantages of using a gesture-based interface rather
than a dialogue interface.
Examination-style questions
1 Mainframe computer manufacturers often refer to RAS.
Explain what is meant by the term ‘RAS’. [3]
2 Explain how high-level language is translated to run on different
computer systems. [5]
3 Describe the terms: [4]
a sector
b block
c track
d cylinder.
4 Explain what is meant by custom-written software. [3]
5 Describe the features of a command line interface. [4]
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