Today I remember Bill English
a native son of Kentucky (Can─tuck─ee)
(January 27, 1929 ─ July 26, 2020)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_English_(computer_engineer)
English was born on January 27, 1929, in Lexington, Kentucky. The only son of Harry English and Caroline (Gray) English, he had two half-brothers from his father's previous marriage. Harry English was an electrical engineer who managed coal mines and Caroline was a homemaker. William, or Bill as he was known, attended a boarding school in Arizona and then studied electrical engineering at the University of Kentucky.[3]
English served in the US Navy until the late 1950s, including postings in northern California and Japan.[3] He then joined the Stanford Research Institute in the 1960s to work on magnets, and built one of the first all-magnetic arithmetic units with Hewitt Crane.[4] In 1964, he was the first person to join Douglas Engelbart's lab, the Augmentation Research Center.
a native son of Kentucky (Can─tuck─ee)
(January 27, 1929 ─ July 26, 2020)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_English_(computer_engineer)
English was born on January 27, 1929, in Lexington, Kentucky. The only son of Harry English and Caroline (Gray) English, he had two half-brothers from his father's previous marriage. Harry English was an electrical engineer who managed coal mines and Caroline was a homemaker. William, or Bill as he was known, attended a boarding school in Arizona and then studied electrical engineering at the University of Kentucky.[3]
English served in the US Navy until the late 1950s, including postings in northern California and Japan.[3] He then joined the Stanford Research Institute in the 1960s to work on magnets, and built one of the first all-magnetic arithmetic units with Hewitt Crane.[4] In 1964, he was the first person to join Douglas Engelbart's lab, the Augmentation Research Center.
The SRI prototype mouse, designed by Engelbart and built by English
He and Douglas Engelbart share credit for creating the first computer mouse in 1963; English built the initial prototype, and was its first user, based on Engelbart's notes.[5][6] English led a 1965 project, sponsored by NASA, which evaluated the best way to select a point on a computer display; the mouse was the winner.[4][7] English was also instrumental at The Mother of All Demos in 1968, which showcased the mouse and other technologies developed as part of their NLS (oN-Line System).[4][8] In particular, English figured out how to connect a terminal in the San Francisco Civic Auditorium to the host computer at SRI 30 miles (48 km) away, and also transmitted audio and video between the locations.[4][8]
English died of respiratory failure in San Rafael, California, on July 26, 2020, aged 91.[3][6]
https://summate.it/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_English_(computer_engineer)
Bill English was an American computer engineer who worked for SRI International, Xerox PARC and Sun Microsystems.
He and Douglas Engelbart share credit for creating the first computer mouse in 1963, with English building the initial prototype based on Engelbart's notes.
During his career, he developed a ball mouse and was responsible for connecting a terminal in the San Francisco Civic Auditorium to the host computer at SRI, as well as transmitting audio and video between the two locations.
____________________________________
https://summate.it/?v2
https://summate.it/https://stanfordmag.org/contents/mighty-mouse
Mighty Mouse
In the early 1980s, Apple Computer was working on two new computers, the Lisa and Macintosh, that would bring a graphical user interface to market.
One of the technologies needed for the Lisa and Macintosh was a mouse, and Apple turned to Hovey-Kelley Design to develop one.
The mouse's evolution from the laboratory to the living room is not well known, but it reveals something of the personalities of its designers, the Stanford program that trained them, and the history of Silicon Valley.
https://stanfordmag.org/contents/mighty-mouse
____________________________________
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2020/6/30/21292182/thinkpad-trackpoint-mouse-nub-button-trackpad-challenges-design-user-input
https://summate.it/https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2020/6/30/21292182/thinkpad-trackpoint-mouse-nub-button-trackpad-challenges-design-user-input
The ThinkPad TrackPoint tried to build a better mouse
The TrackPoint is a mouse solution which has become synonymous with ThinkPad's business-focused laptops; it works differently than a traditional mouse or trackpad.
Despite its initial difficulty, TrackPoint aficionados claim numerous benefits, such as instant access and infinite scrollability, compared to a traditional mouse or trackpad.
Despite its lack of popularity today, the TrackPoint is persisting, proving that it is hard to build a better mouse.
____________________________________
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2020/6/30/21292182/thinkpad-trackpoint-mouse-nub-button-trackpad-challenges-design-user-input
Despite the trackpad’s supremacy, the TrackPoint still lives on: Lenovo’s top-of-the-line ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptop, for example, still offers a TrackPoint side by side with a traditional trackpad. And of course, the TrackPoint II Bluetooth keyboard seen here makes it possible for you to use a mouse nub with any computer, if you prefer. David Hill, Lenovo’s chief design officer at the time, might have said it best in 2017: “Some people get it and some people don’t; some people acquire the taste. It’s hard to explain, but I still think there’s a use for it.”
____________________________________
He and Douglas Engelbart share credit for creating the first computer mouse in 1963; English built the initial prototype, and was its first user, based on Engelbart's notes.[5][6] English led a 1965 project, sponsored by NASA, which evaluated the best way to select a point on a computer display; the mouse was the winner.[4][7] English was also instrumental at The Mother of All Demos in 1968, which showcased the mouse and other technologies developed as part of their NLS (oN-Line System).[4][8] In particular, English figured out how to connect a terminal in the San Francisco Civic Auditorium to the host computer at SRI 30 miles (48 km) away, and also transmitted audio and video between the locations.[4][8]
English died of respiratory failure in San Rafael, California, on July 26, 2020, aged 91.[3][6]
https://summate.it/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_English_(computer_engineer)
Bill English was an American computer engineer who worked for SRI International, Xerox PARC and Sun Microsystems.
He and Douglas Engelbart share credit for creating the first computer mouse in 1963, with English building the initial prototype based on Engelbart's notes.
During his career, he developed a ball mouse and was responsible for connecting a terminal in the San Francisco Civic Auditorium to the host computer at SRI, as well as transmitting audio and video between the two locations.
____________________________________
https://summate.it/?v2
https://summate.it/https://stanfordmag.org/contents/mighty-mouse
Mighty Mouse
In the early 1980s, Apple Computer was working on two new computers, the Lisa and Macintosh, that would bring a graphical user interface to market.
One of the technologies needed for the Lisa and Macintosh was a mouse, and Apple turned to Hovey-Kelley Design to develop one.
The mouse's evolution from the laboratory to the living room is not well known, but it reveals something of the personalities of its designers, the Stanford program that trained them, and the history of Silicon Valley.
https://stanfordmag.org/contents/mighty-mouse
____________________________________
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2020/6/30/21292182/thinkpad-trackpoint-mouse-nub-button-trackpad-challenges-design-user-input
https://summate.it/https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2020/6/30/21292182/thinkpad-trackpoint-mouse-nub-button-trackpad-challenges-design-user-input
The ThinkPad TrackPoint tried to build a better mouse
The TrackPoint is a mouse solution which has become synonymous with ThinkPad's business-focused laptops; it works differently than a traditional mouse or trackpad.
Despite its initial difficulty, TrackPoint aficionados claim numerous benefits, such as instant access and infinite scrollability, compared to a traditional mouse or trackpad.
Despite its lack of popularity today, the TrackPoint is persisting, proving that it is hard to build a better mouse.
____________________________________
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2020/6/30/21292182/thinkpad-trackpoint-mouse-nub-button-trackpad-challenges-design-user-input
Despite the trackpad’s supremacy, the TrackPoint still lives on: Lenovo’s top-of-the-line ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptop, for example, still offers a TrackPoint side by side with a traditional trackpad. And of course, the TrackPoint II Bluetooth keyboard seen here makes it possible for you to use a mouse nub with any computer, if you prefer. David Hill, Lenovo’s chief design officer at the time, might have said it best in 2017: “Some people get it and some people don’t; some people acquire the taste. It’s hard to explain, but I still think there’s a use for it.”
____________________________________
Mark Stefik and Barbara Stefik, Breakthrough, 2004 [ ]
p.130
Trying the Opposite
Ted Selker recalled an example of trying the opposite when he was working on the TrackPoint invention2:
One of the ideas we had along the way of speeding up user interaction was to build in momentum. In the physical world, if you push or throw something in a particular direction, it tends to keep going that way. If a pointing device is going in a direction, we thought it would be likely to continue going in that same direction. We built momentum into the cursor movement routines. In fact somebody had a patent on that.
It turns out that adding momentum to the logic makes a pointing device Harder to control. In fact, the opposite idea works better. It works better to amplify how movements are Changing rather than amplifying the current movement. In other words, you take the derivative of motion and amplify the change. When you start moving the pointer it starts faster; and when you slow down, it stops faster. This is the opposite of momentum. The idea is basically ABS brakes3 on a pointing device. Amplifying the derivative is the invention. The good news is that it makes a 15 percent improvemnet in control.
(Stefik, Mark., Breakthrough : stories and strategies of radical innovation / Mark Stefik and Barbara Stefik., 1. technological innovation., 2. inventions., 2004, )
____________________________________
p.130
Trying the Opposite
Ted Selker recalled an example of trying the opposite when he was working on the TrackPoint invention2:
One of the ideas we had along the way of speeding up user interaction was to build in momentum. In the physical world, if you push or throw something in a particular direction, it tends to keep going that way. If a pointing device is going in a direction, we thought it would be likely to continue going in that same direction. We built momentum into the cursor movement routines. In fact somebody had a patent on that.
It turns out that adding momentum to the logic makes a pointing device Harder to control. In fact, the opposite idea works better. It works better to amplify how movements are Changing rather than amplifying the current movement. In other words, you take the derivative of motion and amplify the change. When you start moving the pointer it starts faster; and when you slow down, it stops faster. This is the opposite of momentum. The idea is basically ABS brakes3 on a pointing device. Amplifying the derivative is the invention. The good news is that it makes a 15 percent improvemnet in control.
(Stefik, Mark., Breakthrough : stories and strategies of radical innovation / Mark Stefik and Barbara Stefik., 1. technological innovation., 2. inventions., 2004, )
____________________________________
In Fred Brooks, 1985 anniversary edition, The mythical man-month: essays on software engineering, he cited mentioned Dorothy Sayers:
p.15
Dorothy Sayers, in her excellent book, "The Mind of the Maker," divides creative activity into three stages: the idea, the implementation, and the interaction.
So it is with the mouse, the trackpad, and the trackpoint.
the idea: how to interact (interface) with the computer
the implementation: let's prototype a device like a mouse
the realization: the mouse, the trackpad, the trackpoint, and others
p.15
Dorothy Sayers, in her excellent book, "The Mind of the Maker," divides creative activity into three stages: the idea, the implementation, and the interaction.
So it is with the mouse, the trackpad, and the trackpoint.
the idea: how to interact (interface) with the computer
the implementation: let's prototype a device like a mouse
the realization: the mouse, the trackpad, the trackpoint, and others
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad
earlier ideas
the idea: how to interact (interface) with a computer (mainframe)
control and data storage using punched holes
the implementation: a piece of stiff paper that holds data represented
by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card
the realization: At the end of the 1800s Herman Hollerith invented
the recording of data on a medium that could then be
read by a machine, developing punched card data
processing technology for the 1890 U.S. census.[17]
____________________________________
Brooks, Frederick P., Jr. (Frederick Phillips)
The mythical man-month : essays on software engineering / Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. -- Anniversary ed.
includes biliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-201-83595-9
1. Software engineering
Dorothy Sayers (mmm)
The Plan
Page 49,
G. A. Blaauw points out that creative effort involves three
distinct phases:
(1) architecture,
(2) implementation, and
(3) realization.
Page 15,
Dorothy Sayers divides creative activity into three stages:
1. the idea (architecture),
2. the implementation (implementation), and
3. the interaction (realization).
(The mythical man-month : essays on software engineering, Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. -- Anniversary ed., © 1985, Software engineering, p.49, p.15.)
____________________________________
p.15
Dorothy Sayers, in her excellent book, "The Mind of the Maker," divides creative activity into three stages: the idea, the implementation, and the interaction.
The idea ﴾1﴿
“A book, then or a computer, or a program comes into existence first as an ideal construct, built outside time and space, but complete in the mind of the author.”
The implementation ﴾2﴿
“It is realized in time and space, by pen, ink, and paper, or by wire, silicon, and ferrite.”
The interaction ﴾3﴿
“The creation is complete when someone reads the book, uses the computer, or runs the program, thereby interacting with the mind of the maker.”
This description, which Miss Sayers uses to illuminate not only human creative activity but also the Christian doctrine of the Trinity (tri=3) (adopted from Greek philosophy), will help us in our present task.
For the human makers of things, the incompletenesses and inconsistencies of our ideas become clear only during implementation. Thus it is that writing, experimentation, "working out" are essential disciplines for the theoretician.
In many creatives activities the medium of execution is intractable. Lumber splits; paints smear; electrical circuits ring. These physical limitations of the medium constrain the ideas that may be expressed, and they also create unexpected difficulties in the implementation.
Implementation, then, takes time and sweat both because of the physical media and because of the inadequacies of the underlying ideas. We tend to blame the physical media for most of our implementation difficulties; for the media are not "ours" in the way the ideas are, and our pride colors our judgement.
(The mythical man-month : essays on software engineering, Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. -- Anniversary ed., © 1985, Software engineering, p.15 )
____________________________________
architecture, implementation, and realization.
p.49 As Blaauw points out, the total creative effort involves three distinct phases:
(1) architecture,
(2) implementation, and
(3) realization.
It turns out that these can in fact be begun in parallel and proceed simultaneously.
(The mythical man-month : essays on software engineering, Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. -- Anniversary ed., © 1985, Software engineering, p.15, p.49 )
____________________________________
earlier ideas
the idea: how to interact (interface) with a computer (mainframe)
control and data storage using punched holes
the implementation: a piece of stiff paper that holds data represented
by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card
the realization: At the end of the 1800s Herman Hollerith invented
the recording of data on a medium that could then be
read by a machine, developing punched card data
processing technology for the 1890 U.S. census.[17]
____________________________________
Brooks, Frederick P., Jr. (Frederick Phillips)
The mythical man-month : essays on software engineering / Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. -- Anniversary ed.
includes biliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-201-83595-9
1. Software engineering
Dorothy Sayers (mmm)
The Plan
Page 49,
G. A. Blaauw points out that creative effort involves three
distinct phases:
(1) architecture,
(2) implementation, and
(3) realization.
Page 15,
Dorothy Sayers divides creative activity into three stages:
1. the idea (architecture),
2. the implementation (implementation), and
3. the interaction (realization).
(The mythical man-month : essays on software engineering, Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. -- Anniversary ed., © 1985, Software engineering, p.49, p.15.)
____________________________________
p.15
Dorothy Sayers, in her excellent book, "The Mind of the Maker," divides creative activity into three stages: the idea, the implementation, and the interaction.
The idea ﴾1﴿
“A book, then or a computer, or a program comes into existence first as an ideal construct, built outside time and space, but complete in the mind of the author.”
The implementation ﴾2﴿
“It is realized in time and space, by pen, ink, and paper, or by wire, silicon, and ferrite.”
The interaction ﴾3﴿
“The creation is complete when someone reads the book, uses the computer, or runs the program, thereby interacting with the mind of the maker.”
This description, which Miss Sayers uses to illuminate not only human creative activity but also the Christian doctrine of the Trinity (tri=3) (adopted from Greek philosophy), will help us in our present task.
For the human makers of things, the incompletenesses and inconsistencies of our ideas become clear only during implementation. Thus it is that writing, experimentation, "working out" are essential disciplines for the theoretician.
In many creatives activities the medium of execution is intractable. Lumber splits; paints smear; electrical circuits ring. These physical limitations of the medium constrain the ideas that may be expressed, and they also create unexpected difficulties in the implementation.
Implementation, then, takes time and sweat both because of the physical media and because of the inadequacies of the underlying ideas. We tend to blame the physical media for most of our implementation difficulties; for the media are not "ours" in the way the ideas are, and our pride colors our judgement.
(The mythical man-month : essays on software engineering, Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. -- Anniversary ed., © 1985, Software engineering, p.15 )
____________________________________
architecture, implementation, and realization.
p.49 As Blaauw points out, the total creative effort involves three distinct phases:
(1) architecture,
(2) implementation, and
(3) realization.
It turns out that these can in fact be begun in parallel and proceed simultaneously.
(The mythical man-month : essays on software engineering, Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. -- Anniversary ed., © 1985, Software engineering, p.15, p.49 )
____________________________________
Hiltzik, Michael A.
Dealers of lighting : Xerox PARC and the dawn of the computer age / Michael Hiltzik. —— 1st ed.
1. computer science——research——california——palo alto——history
2. Xerox corporation. Palo Alto Research Center——history
p.210
In every way possible, Gypsy mimicked Ginn's customary routines. The system retained multiple versions and drafts of every file and displayed them as a list. An editor could use the mouse to scroll down the list and click on the desired version to open it. (This was the first time the mouse was used as it is today, to execute point-and-click operations; Engelbart's system and Bravo both used it simply to position the cursor within a block of text.)
Mott's diligence in drawing the Ginn editors into the design phase paid off. Instead of an editing process "so labourious that there was a point at which you threw up your hand and said, 'I just don't want to do this anymore,'" he recalled, the Ginn staff "found the ability to edit on the screen and always have a clean copy improved the quality of the editing itself. They could do a lot more of it before it became frustrating."
(Hiltzik, Michael A., copyright © 1999, QA76.27.H55 1999, 004'.0720794'73——dc21)
(Dealers of lighting : Xerox PARC and the dawn of the computer age / Michael Hiltzik. —— 1st ed., 1. computer science——research——california——palo alto——history, 2. Xerox coproration. Palo Alto Research Center——history, )
____________________________________
M. Mitchell Waldrop, The Dream Machine : J. C. R. Licklider and the revolution that made computing personal, 2001
p.354
some of Doug Engelbart's best people, SRI--chief engineer Bill English, the man who had always had such a genius for turning Engelbart's dreamy ideas into working hardware.
p.354
Elkind was also instrumental in luring Carnegie Mellon's Allen Newell to PARC as a part-time consultant to the Systems Science Lab, where Newell began laying the foundation for a real science of computer-user interface design: What principles, he asked, what design techniques, what facts about human beings should designers take into account that could make computers easier to use? In 1972, moreover, Newell's students Stuart Card and Tom Moran arrived at PARC with their freshly minted Ph.D.s and went to work in Bill English's group, doing human-factors studies of the mouse, the graphics displays, and much else--and in the process pioneering the discipline now known as human-computer interaction.
p.406
Engelbart and the remaining team at SRI had lost something vital when Bill English and the others went to PARC--some indefinable gift for turning their visions into compelling reality.
p.406
So in 1975 Lick terminated the SRI contract.
p.408
By 1975 we HAD office of the future! We could do our office memos on computers, we would transfer data electronically, we could print things. In 1976, we even built a scanner!
p.409
Bill English had a word processor that did Japanese.
p.409
Then there were the delegates from Fuji Xerox, the company's Japanese partner: they were besides themselves over Bill English's word processor. “Fuji clamored, ‘Give us this! We'll manufacture it!’”
(Waldrop, M. Mitchell.; The dream machine : J. C. R. Licklider and the revolution that made computing personal / M. Mitchell Waldrop., 1. Licklider, J. C. R., 2. microcomputers--history, 2001, )
____________________________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
··<────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────>
··<---------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Dealers of lighting : Xerox PARC and the dawn of the computer age / Michael Hiltzik. —— 1st ed.
1. computer science——research——california——palo alto——history
2. Xerox corporation. Palo Alto Research Center——history
p.210
In every way possible, Gypsy mimicked Ginn's customary routines. The system retained multiple versions and drafts of every file and displayed them as a list. An editor could use the mouse to scroll down the list and click on the desired version to open it. (This was the first time the mouse was used as it is today, to execute point-and-click operations; Engelbart's system and Bravo both used it simply to position the cursor within a block of text.)
Mott's diligence in drawing the Ginn editors into the design phase paid off. Instead of an editing process "so labourious that there was a point at which you threw up your hand and said, 'I just don't want to do this anymore,'" he recalled, the Ginn staff "found the ability to edit on the screen and always have a clean copy improved the quality of the editing itself. They could do a lot more of it before it became frustrating."
(Hiltzik, Michael A., copyright © 1999, QA76.27.H55 1999, 004'.0720794'73——dc21)
(Dealers of lighting : Xerox PARC and the dawn of the computer age / Michael Hiltzik. —— 1st ed., 1. computer science——research——california——palo alto——history, 2. Xerox coproration. Palo Alto Research Center——history, )
____________________________________
M. Mitchell Waldrop, The Dream Machine : J. C. R. Licklider and the revolution that made computing personal, 2001
p.354
some of Doug Engelbart's best people, SRI--chief engineer Bill English, the man who had always had such a genius for turning Engelbart's dreamy ideas into working hardware.
p.354
Elkind was also instrumental in luring Carnegie Mellon's Allen Newell to PARC as a part-time consultant to the Systems Science Lab, where Newell began laying the foundation for a real science of computer-user interface design: What principles, he asked, what design techniques, what facts about human beings should designers take into account that could make computers easier to use? In 1972, moreover, Newell's students Stuart Card and Tom Moran arrived at PARC with their freshly minted Ph.D.s and went to work in Bill English's group, doing human-factors studies of the mouse, the graphics displays, and much else--and in the process pioneering the discipline now known as human-computer interaction.
p.406
Engelbart and the remaining team at SRI had lost something vital when Bill English and the others went to PARC--some indefinable gift for turning their visions into compelling reality.
p.406
So in 1975 Lick terminated the SRI contract.
p.408
By 1975 we HAD office of the future! We could do our office memos on computers, we would transfer data electronically, we could print things. In 1976, we even built a scanner!
p.409
Bill English had a word processor that did Japanese.
p.409
Then there were the delegates from Fuji Xerox, the company's Japanese partner: they were besides themselves over Bill English's word processor. “Fuji clamored, ‘Give us this! We'll manufacture it!’”
(Waldrop, M. Mitchell.; The dream machine : J. C. R. Licklider and the revolution that made computing personal / M. Mitchell Waldrop., 1. Licklider, J. C. R., 2. microcomputers--history, 2001, )
____________________________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
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