Development of an Interactive Computer Graphics System Library and Graphics Tools.

The requirements for a general purpose, interactive graphics software system were investigated and led to the development of a graphics library of subroutines which can be used as a graphics research tool or for applications development. The design objectives for software environments and software tools established the strategy for developing the graphics software library. It was determined that the ACM Core standard graphics specification satisfied many of the requirements. An output-only implementation of the Core by George Washington University was extended to include a device driver for a color display device and the synchronous input primitives. The graphics system was used to develop an application program to demonstrate the design of an effective user-tool interface. The program is an interactive graphics editor that allows preparation of two-dimensional pictures and includes capabilities for picture storage and retrieval, segment addition and deletion, attribute control, error handling and on-line help. The graphics software library implemented to the specification of the Core standard proposal provides an effective tool for interactive computer graphics education, research, and applications development. (Author)