The Architectural Bases of Design Re-use

The architecture problem for interactive systems is a hard problem. Objective, rational and well-informed analysis of interactive architectures is rare. This is not all due to sloppy thinking. Much of it is due to the many obstacles to progress in the area of software for interactive systems. The topic is inherently slippery, because it is hard to get a grip with either our hands or our feet. The minute we think we have a grasp of the main issues, new technologies rain down on us and wash away the islands of firm ground on which we are standing. Part of the problem has undoubtedly been a lack of appropriate standards. The GKS standard took a conservative approach to interactive input (Rosenthal et al. 1982), and the PHIGS standard (Shuey et al. 1986) has added no significant developments for interaction2.