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Executable specifications for a human-computer interface

Author:

Robert J.K. JacobAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '83: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 28 - 34

https://doi.org/10.1145/800045.801575

Published: 12 December 1983 Publication History

Abstract

It is useful to be able to specify a proposed human-computer interface formally before building it, particularly if a mockup suitable for testing can be obtained directly from the specification. A specification technique for user interfaces, based on state transition diagrams, is introduced and then demonstrated for a secure message system application. An interpreter that executes the resulting specification is then described. Some problems that arise in specifying a user interface are addressed by particular features of the technique: To reduce the complexity of the developer's task, a user interface is divided into the semantic, syntactic, and lexical levels, and a separate executable specification is provided for each. A process of stepwise refinement of the syntactic specification, leading from an informal specification to an executable one is also presented. Since the state diagram notation is based on a non-deterministic model, constraints necessary to realize the system with a deterministic interpreter are given.

References

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T. Bleser and J.D. Foley, "Towards Specifying and Evaluating the Human Factors of User-Computer Interfaces," Proc. Human Factors in Computer Systems Conference, pp. 309-314 (1982).

Digital Library

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R.J.K. Jacob, "Formal Specification of the User Interface of a Receive-only Secure Military Message System Prototype," Naval Research Laboratory Technical Memorandum 7590:RJ:rj (1983).

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T.P. Moran, "The Command Language Grammar: A Representation for the User Interface of Interactive Computer Systems," International Journal of Man-Machine Studies15 pp. 3-50 (1981). The Interaction Level of the Command Language Grammar is similar to a state transition diagram specification.

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Cited By

Kin KHartmann BDeRose TAgrawala MKonstan JChi EHöök K(2012)ProtonProceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/2207676.2208694(2885-2894)Online publication date: 5-May-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2207676.2208694
Rohr GTauber M(2005)Representational frameworks and models for human-computer interfacesReadings on Cognitive Ergonomics — Mind and Computers10.1007/3-540-13394-1_2(7-25)Online publication date: 31-May-2005
https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-13394-1_2
CURRY MMONK A(1995)Dialogue modelling of graphical user interfaces with a production systemBehaviour & Information Technology10.1080/0144929950891462414:1(41-55)Online publication date: Jan-1995
https://doi.org/10.1080/01449299508914624
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Executable specifications for a human-computer interface
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
2. Theory of computation
  1. Semantics and reasoning
    1. Program reasoning
      1. Program specifications

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '83: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

December 1983

306 pages

ISBN:0897911210

DOI:10.1145/800045

Chairmen:
Raoul N. Smith,
Richard W. Pew,
Editor:
Ann Janda

Copyright © 1983 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Sponsors

Human Factors Soc: Human Factors Society
SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 12 December 1983

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CHI '83 Paper Acceptance Rate 59 of 176 submissions, 34%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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Cited By

Kin KHartmann BDeRose TAgrawala MKonstan JChi EHöök K(2012)ProtonProceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/2207676.2208694(2885-2894)Online publication date: 5-May-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2207676.2208694
Rohr GTauber M(2005)Representational frameworks and models for human-computer interfacesReadings on Cognitive Ergonomics — Mind and Computers10.1007/3-540-13394-1_2(7-25)Online publication date: 31-May-2005
https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-13394-1_2
CURRY MMONK A(1995)Dialogue modelling of graphical user interfaces with a production systemBehaviour & Information Technology10.1080/0144929950891462414:1(41-55)Online publication date: Jan-1995
https://doi.org/10.1080/01449299508914624
Jones C(1993)User Interface Development and Decision Support SystemsRecent Developments in Decision Support Systems10.1007/978-3-662-02952-7_8(181-209)Online publication date: 1993
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-02952-7_8
Henry THudson SNewell GHudson S(1990)Integrating gesture and snapping into a user interface toolkitProceedings of the 3rd annual ACM SIGGRAPH symposium on User interface software and technology10.1145/97924.97938(112-122)Online publication date: 1-Aug-1990
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/97924.97938
CARROLL JCAMPBELL R(1989)Artifacts as psychological theories: the case of human-computer interactionBehaviour & Information Technology10.1080/014492989089145568:4(247-256)Online publication date: Aug-1989
https://doi.org/10.1080/01449298908914556
Green M(1986)A survey of three dialogue modelsACM Transactions on Graphics10.1145/24054.240575:3(244-275)Online publication date: 1-Jul-1986
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/24054.24057
Zave P(1985)A distributed alternative to finite-state-machine specificationsACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems10.1145/2363.23657:1(10-36)Online publication date: 2-Jan-1985
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2363.2365

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