Darlene A. Stewart

A multitasking switchboard approach to user interface management

A Switchboard model of user input management is presented which takes advantage of opportunities afforded by a multitasking multiprocessor programming environment. This model further separates application programming from the programming of the interaction dialogues as compared with conventional user interface management systems. It also provides powerful tools for implementing parallel forms of input, is suitable for managing interaction in window-based systems, and is very flexible.The paper describes this Switchboard model and its implementation on top of the Harmony operating system, as well as discussing some of the graphics support needed for the model.

Evolution is essential for software tool development

We examine the problems encountered in evolving software development tools, in particular, configuration management tools, drawing on our experience in producing the DaSC configuration management toolset. Building good software development tools is a time-consuming, iterative process where the tool designers must take into account the evolving nature of the software development process embodied in the tools, the evolving nature of the environment in which the tools exist, and the evolving understanding that the tool designers have of the users of the tools. We believe that our experience with the tools that we have developed is applicable to other kinds of tools used in industrial settings.

Supporting Scientists' Everyday Work: Automating Scientific Workflows

An action research project involving scientists from the National Research Council Canada and the Institute for Ocean Technology analyzed difficulties in using software to collect data and manage processes. The project identified three requirements for increasing research productivity: ease of use for end users, managing scientific workflows, and facilitating software interoperability. On the basis of these requirements, the researchers developed Sweet, a software framework, to help automate scientific workflows.