The graphical user interface has evolved from early command line interfaces to modern touchscreen devices. Some key developments include the 1973 Xerox Alto, which had one of the first graphical interfaces with windows, icons, and a mouse. Smalltalk in the 1970s introduced an interactive object-oriented programming environment. The 1981 Xerox Star further advanced graphical interfaces with principles like seeing and pointing, progressive disclosure, and uniformity across applications.

1. ######################
GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE
####### TIMELINE ########
# FROM COMMAND PROMPT TO TOUCH DEVICES #
C:NAMES
C:NAMESmore list-of-authors.log
Remy Oleszczuk
Osward Msefula
Alexander O'neill
Aidan Muldoon
C:NAMES
COMPUTING

2. WHAT IS A USER INTERFACE?

3. 197
3Xerox Alto
This is what you
would see right
after the system
boots.
This is MazeWar.
origional 3D,
multiplayer,
productivity killing,
first person shooter
game
This is the Alto file
manager. Its name
is the "Neptune
Directory Editor."
Smalltalk was a clean,
interactive, object
oriented programming
language and
environment.

4. 198
0
Custom built microcode programmable processor
256k to 1 megabyte of RAM
12 megabyte 14" Shugart hard drive
Bit-mapped 768*1024 portrait monochrome display with
hardware to accelerate drawing.
Summagraphics tablet
8 inch floppy disk
Keyboard, parallel interface, RS-232 serial interface, and
IEEE-488 interface
Speech synthesizer
Optional ethernet
Specification:
First graphical workstation
ICL Three Rivers Perq

5. 198
1Xerox Star
The design of the Star focused
around four important principles:
•Seeing and pointing
•Progressive disclosure
•Uniformity in all applications
•What you see is what you get"