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Tool Use, Reuse, and Organization in Command-Driven Interfaces

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Tool Use, Reuse, and Organization in Command-Driven Interfaces University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Science Science Research & Publications 1988-12-01 TOOL USE, REUSE, AND ORGANIZATION IN COMMAND-DRIVEN INTERFACES Greenberg, Saul http://hdl.handle.net/1880/45930 unknown Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca Contents List of ®gures ix List of tables xi Foreword xiii Acknowledgments and dedication xv 1 Introduction 1 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 1.1 Using physical tools : 1 : : : : : : 1.2 Soft tools in general-purpose computing environments : 4 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : De®nitions : 4 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : From appliances to manufacturing : 6 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Problem statement : 7 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 1.3 Outline : 8 2 Studying UNIX 11 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 2.1 Choosing UNIX : 11 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Natural studies : 11 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : A brief introduction to UNIX : 12 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Why study UNIX? : 14 : : : : : : : : 2.2 Techniques for analyzing activities of UNIX users : 16 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Traces of user activity : 16 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Protocol analysis : 20 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 2.3 Data collection for the current study : 21 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 2.4 Concluding remarks : 25 3 Using commands in UNIX 26 : : : : : : 3.1 Frequency distributions of commands for large groups : 26 : : : : 3.2 Usage frequency of particular commands between groups : 27 3.3 Frequency distributions and command overlap between individuals 30 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 3.4 Growth of the command vocabulary : 32 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 3.5 Relations in command sequences : 34 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 3.6 Discussion : 36 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 3.7 Concluding remarks : 38 v vi Contents 4 Techniques for reusing activities 40 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 4.1 History mechanisms : 41 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : History in glass teletypes : 42 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : History through graphical selection : 44 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : History by editing transcripts : 47 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : History by navigational traces : 49 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 4.2 Adaptive systems : 52 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Adaptive menu hierarchies : 53 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Reuse through text prediction : 54 : : : : : : : : : : : : : 4.3 Reuse through programming by example : 59 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 4.4 Concluding remarks : 63 5 Recurrent systems 65 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 5.1 A de®nition of recurrent systems : 65 : : : : : : : : : : 5.2 Recurrent systems in the non-computer world : 67 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Telephone usage ± a limited study : 67 : : : : : : : : : : : : 5.3 Recurrent systems in information retrieval : 73 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Retrieving topics in manuals : 74 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 5.4 UNIX csh as a recurrent system : 74 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Recurrences of command lines : 75 : : : : : : Command line frequency as a function of distance : 79 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 5.5 Concluding remarks : 81 6 Reuse opportunities in UNIX csh ± potential and actual 84 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 6.1 Conditioning the distribution : 84 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : The quality of predictions : 85 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Different conditioning methods : 86 : : : : : : : : : : : : : Evaluating the conditioning methods : 91 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Discussion : 101 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 6.2 Actual use of UNIX history : 102 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Results : 102 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Corroboration and extensions : 103 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Discussion : 105 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 6.3 Concluding remarks : 106 7 Principles, corroboration, and justi®cation 108 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 7.1 Principles and guidelines : 108 : : : : : : : : : : Principles: how users repeat their activities : 108 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 7.2 Corroboration : 112 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : The GLIDE study : 112 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Results and discussion : 113 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 7.3 Stepping back : 118 Contents vii : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Plans and situated actions : 118 : : : : : : : : : : : : : Recurrences: natural fact or artifact? : 119 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 7.4 Concluding remarks : 121 8 Organizing activities through workspaces 123 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 8.1 Relating activities : 124 : : : : : : : : : : : : 8.2 Implications: suggestions for workspaces : 127 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : A review of suggestions : 128 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Additional workspace suggestions : 129 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 8.3 Implementations : 131 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 8.4 Concluding remarks : 140 9 A workspace system: description and issues 141 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 9.1 The WORKBENCH system : 141 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : A brief overview of Sunview : 142 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : An overview of WORKBENCH : 143 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Designing the tool area : 146 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Designing the tool cabinet : 149 : : : : : : : : : : Underlying architecture of WORKBENCH : 152 : : : : : : : : : : : : 9.2 Pragmatic concerns and research questions : 155 10 Conclusion 159 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 10.1 Argument of the book : 159 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 10.2 Contributions : 160 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 10.3 Looking to the future : 161 Appendix A:A sample trace 164 Appendix B:Summary statistics for each subject 169 References 177 Author index 183 Subject index 185 viii Contents This page intensionally left blank List of ®gures : : : 1.1 The Galapagos ®nch probing for insects with a cactus spine. : 2 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 1.2 An idealized carpenter's workshop. : 5 : : : : 3.1 The normalized command frequency, compared with Zipf. : 28 3.2 Command vocabulary size vs. the number of command lines en- : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : tered for four individuals. : 33 : : : : : : : : : 3.3 Sequential structure of UNIX command usage. : 35 : : : : : : 4.1 Examples of the UNIX csh history mechanism in use. : 43 4.2 A portion of the INTERLISP±D environment, showing HIST- : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : MENU in use. : 44 : : : : : : : 4.3 MINIT's WINDOW MANAGEMENT WINDOW. : 46 : 4.4 The VERSATERM terminal emulator for the Apple Macintosh. : 48 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 4.5 The HYPERCARD recent screen. : 50 4.6 A sample FILE MANAGER window, showing a history list of the : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : last few ®les visited. : 52 4.7 The Apple Macintosh ªopen dialogº box, showing the BOOMER- : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : ANG history menu. : 53 : : 4.8 Menu trees generated by uniform and probability subdivision. : 55 4.9 Using RK-BUTTON, the UNIX version of the REACTIVE KEY- BOARD: (a) a dialog with UNIX; (b) some commands; and (c) : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : screen contents at end of the dialog. : 57 4.10 RK-POINTER menu and feedback showing ®ve interaction se- : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : quences. : 58 : 4.11 The QUICKEYS menu and several sequence-editing windows. : 62 5.1 The number of different calls made vs. the number of calls dialed : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : so far. : 69 5.2 Relation between recurrence rate and the number of calls made. : 70 : : : : : 5.3 Recurrences of phone numbers as a measure of distance. : 72 5.4 Cumulative recurrences of phone numbers as a measure of distance. 73 5.5 Regression: (a) command line vocabulary size; and (b) the % recurrence rate vs. the total command lines entered by each subject. 77 5.6 Command line vocabulary size vs. the number of commands en- : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : tered for four typical individuals. : 78 R : : : : : : : : : 5.7 Processing a subject's trace for all values of s;d . 80 ix x List of ®gures 5.8 (a) Recurrence distribution; and (b) cumulative recurrence distri- : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : bution as a measure of distance. : 82 6.1 Cumulative probabilities of a recurrence over distance for various : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : conditioning methods. : 97 6.2 Cumulative average number of characters saved per submission : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : over distance. : 98 6.3 (a) Cumulative distribution of history; and (b) distribution of history : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : use as a measure of distance. : 104 7.1 Cumulative probabilities of a recurrence over distance for various : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : conditioning methods. : 116 7.2 Cumulative average number of characters saved per submission : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : over distance. : 117 : : : 8.1 A user's ¯ow
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