Comment Location:
http://christalks624.blogspot.com/2010/09/reading-4-master-sutherland-vs-machine.html
Summary:
The author is Ivan Sutherland, the MIT professor who virtually started the field of sketch recognition; the paper was written in 1963. Considering the date, I believe this was one of the first (if not the first) sketching program created. While reading this, I couldn't help but think this program was similar to Microsoft Paint that everyone has today; I did notice a few features that were not in Paint, though. The author explains his sketching program in this paper. The user creates a shape and then manipulates that shape with a number of flexible commands.
The drawing tool of choice is the "light pen". The user must inform the computer of the starting location of the pen to begin drawing; I summarize the light pen as an earlier version of the mouse. The idea of a psuedo pen was to allow for easier tracking and computations on the programmer's end.
Discussion:
This paper was a starting point for drawing programs; I believe it is a predecessor to Microsoft Paint. I wonder if Sutherland created any other revolutionary programs; considering his listed patents on Wikipedia, that seems likely. The program could be improved through advances in technology, and the resulting drawing programs of today are proof.
I might say that it is more like the many CAD systems than Paint, but I suppose it is the predecessor of each of those and countless others. I wonder how modern computing, especially GUIs, HCI, sketch, and CAD, would exist today without his influence.
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