CSC 420/520: Graphical User Interfaces

Instructor:	Lin Qiu
Time:	Spring 2006, Tuesday and Thursday, 11:10-12:30 pm
Location:	107 Snygg Hall
Office hour:	Tuesday & Thursday 1:20 - 2:20pm, or by appointment

Announcements

I am currently looking for students to work with me. See here for details.

5/8/2006: Final presentation schedule out.

4/16/2006: Final project midpoint demo schedule out.

3/28/2006: Assignment 3 grades out.

3/21/2006: The Critic is now accessible off-campus.

3/19/2006: Final project proposal presentation schedule out.

3/6/2006: Assignment 3 due date extended to 3/23. Use the Critic to check your Coding style.

3/2/2006: Final project proposal meeting schedule out.

2/27/2006: Assignment 2 grades out.

2/22/2006: Assignment 1 grades out.

1/26/2006: Final project out. Here are some examples from previous classes.

Prerequisites

CSC241. Working knowledge of Java and Swing. Capable of solving programming problems by reading APIs.

Objectives and philosophy

This course introduces the basic mechanisms and implementation techniques for graphical user interfaces. Topics include event models, model-view-controller architecture, user interaction, and the use of toolkits. In addition, the basic principles of user interface design and 2D computer graphics will be covered. As a result of this course, students will be able to:

Understand and apply the essential models, designs, and architectures of graphical user interfaces.

Understand, use, and extend interface toolkit systems.

Effectively develop the interface portions of applications.

This is a learn-by-doing kind of class. Students will be taught general concepts and then introduced to the ways these concepts are implemented. It will be up to the student to find out the details necessary to complete the programming assignments. Java will be used as the main programming languange in this class.

Textbook and other readings

Developing User Interfaces by Dan R. Olsen Jr., Morgan-Kaufmann (Textbook)
You also need a good Java reference and a book that introduces the Java graphics and Swing.

An introduction to Java AWT - Graphic Java 2, Volume 1.2 : AWT by David M. Geary
An introduction to Swing that assumes you know AWT - Graphic Java 2, Volume 2, Swing by David M. Geary
Another introduction to Swing that assumes you know AWT - Up to Speed with Swing by Steven J. Gutz

Online resources

Java

download Java 1.5 and its documentation.

Java 1.5 API (with frames)

GUI

Overview of the Java UI

Swing tutorial

Swing Widgets

Java 2D tutorial

Free Java IDE

Gel

JCreator

Eclipse

HCI

Gatech

Grading

Your final grade will be computed using the following contributions:

30% Three assignments

30% Final exam

40% Final project

Policies

Late Policy

For each calendar day after the due date for an assignment, 10% is lost. After 1 day, the maximum score is 90%, after 2 days, 80%, etc, for a maximum of 10 days.

Academic Honesty

All assignments/exams must be done on your own. If you are found to cheat by inappropriately sharing your solution with other students, copying others' work, requesting answering services to answer your questions, etc. you will get an immediate F for the course, and your case will be sent to the university’s Office of Judicial Programs.

Approximate Course Content:

Basic 2D Computer Graphics

Coordinate systems
Rendering models
Image models

Event Handling

Windowing systems
Main event loop
Event dispatching and handling
Inter-object communication

Interaction

Model-View-Controller Architecture
Interaction models

Widget Toolkits

Devices
Look & Feel
Widgets (Buttons, Scrollbars, Text boxes, etc.)
Layout (fixed position, layout managers, struts and springs)

Design Patterns for Standard Interactions

Cut, copy, paste
Undo/Redo
Macros

Design Issues

Functional design
Fitts' law

Schedule

(tentative and subject to change)

Week	Date	Topic	Reading	Homework/Project
1	1/26	Syllabus, Introduction lecture notes		Final project out(1/26)
2	1/31 2/2	Basic 2D Graphics example code lecture notes	Olsen Ch. 3 Java 2D tutorial Painting in AWT and Swing Animation in Java applets	Assignment 1 out (2/2)
3	2/7 2/9	Event Handling, example code scrollbar example	Olsen Ch. 4 Java and Event Handling Event Handling In Java, Writing Event Listeners
4	2/14 2/16	Model, View, Controller MVC and Swing example code temperature example	Olsen Ch. 5 Introducing Swing Architecture, A Swing Architecture Overview MVC meets Swing	Assignment 1 due (2/14) Assignment 2 out (2/16)
5	2/21 2/23	Widget Toolkits Interfaces from Widgets	Olsen Ch. 6, 7 Swing Widgets Using Layout Managers	Assignment 2 due (2/23) Assignment 3 out (2/23)
6	2/28 3/2	Functional Design	Olsen Ch. 1, 2	Final project proposal due (2/28)
7	3/7 3/9	Individual group meetings
8	3/14 3/16	No class (Spring Recess)
9	3/21 3/23	Final project proposal presentation.		Assignment 3 due (3/23)
10	3/28 3/30	user-centered design vs. activity-centered design Fitts' Law	Examples of applying Fitts' Law
11	4/4 4/6	undo/redo, example code groupware, macros	Olsen Ch. 14 undo/redo with Swing
12	4/11 4/13 (No class: Good Friday)	Interaction Design Patterns Clipboard example code	Olsen Ch. 13 Cut, copy, and paste in Java
13	4/18 4/20	Midpoint final project demo
14	4/25 4/27	interaction models	book excerpt: models of interaction from Human-Computer Interaction paper1, paper2
15	5/2 5/4	interaction models Final review
16	5/9 5/11	Final project presentation
17	5/16	10:30am - 12:30pm final exam

NOTE: This syllabus is tentative and subject to change when necessary. All changes will be announced in class and on this website.

Lin Qiu