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Gemma: An Open Architecture for Distributed User Interfaces

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Object-Oriented and Mixed Programming Paradigms

Part of the book series: Focus on Computer Graphics ((FOCUS COMPUTER))

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Abstract

The Graphical Environment for Multiple users and Multiple devices Architecture (Gemma) is a design for a user interface architecture that allows users to bind together collections of devices for the task at hand, rather than being limited to virtual terminals. It provides mediated shared access to basic devices and higher-level virtual devices so that people can share computational facilities in the real world, rather than in a virtual world. Gemma uses object-oriented techniques to achieve the flexibilty it requires, particulary inheritance and encapsulation, hiding distribution and allowing arbitrary devices to be connected together. Gemma was motivated by the observation that both computing systems and our understanding of human-computer interaction have changed since graphical interfaces were introduced, but that the layer which binds them together, the user interface system, has not changed as quickly. An example window system, SW, and an example application show how Gemma’s features may be exploited to provide a flexible, collaborative and mobile interactive environment.

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Authors
  1. Steve Freeman
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. German National Research Center for Computer Science (GMD), Schloss Birlinghoven, D-53757, Sankt Augustin, Germany

    Peter Wisskirchen

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© 1996 EUROGRAPHICS The European Association for Computer Graphics

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Freeman, S. (1996). Gemma: An Open Architecture for Distributed User Interfaces. In: Wisskirchen, P. (eds) Object-Oriented and Mixed Programming Paradigms. Focus on Computer Graphics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61062-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61062-2_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64676-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-61062-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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