Abstract
The main objective of the work reported in this article is the use of constraints in graphics and user interfaces. We believe that constraints need to be integrated in a powerful programming paradigm in order to be usable in large-scale systems. The system we present embeds constraints in a prototype-based model. A prototype object (a template) contains internal constraints, and exports slots so that instances of the prototype can be further constrained. Instantiation uses delegation to share constraints between instances. As a consequence, changing a template has an immediate effect on all its instances. The model also features generic templates and skeletons to create complex constrained objects. The system is open and extensible: new constraint types can be defined and alternative solvers can be used. The basic solver uses local propagation.
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© 1995 EUROGRAPHICS The European Association for Computer Graphics
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Cournarie, E., Beaudouin-Lafon, M. (1995). ALIEN: A Prototype-Based Constraint System. In: Laffra, C., Blake, E.H., de Mey, V., Pintado, X. (eds) Object-Oriented Programming for Graphics. Focus on Computer Graphics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79192-5_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79192-5_8
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