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Proprietary and open source software will be described in Chapter 10,

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Section 10.12.

Activity 2g
Describe custom-written software and off-the-shelf software in terms of:
a availability
b number of bugs.

2.5 User interfaces

2.5 User interfaces

A user interface is the means by which the computer system interacts with the
user. It enables the user, with the help of input devices, to communicate with the
computer and then, via the OS, communicate with a piece of software or any
output device. A good user interface is one which allows the user to perform this
communication without encountering any problems; it needs to be user-friendly.
It should also be intuitive; users should be able to predict what will happen if
they take a certain action, for example if a button on a user interface looks like
a button in real life (such as the on/off button on a computer), a user should be
able to press it and get a response. The four major interfaces are the command
line interface, graphical user interface, dialogue interface and gesture-based
interface.

2.5.1 Command line interface

The command line interface (CLI) is a means of interacting with a computer using
commands in the form of successive lines of text. Normally, a prompt appears on
the screen to which the user responds by typing a command. The output from the
computer could be to produce a list or take some other action. In the early days
of computing, the CLI was the only way a user could get the computer to run
software or carry out tasks. This type of user interface is rarely used today except
by software developers, system administrators and more advanced users. Most
individuals use a graphical user interface (GUI) when communicating with their
computers. However, even within a GUI it is still possible to access a CLI.

▲ Figure 2.4 A command line interface screen

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As we can see in Figure 2.4, the CLI usually consists of a black box with white

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text. In the early days of computing the text was green. In Figure 2.4, on entering
the interface, a prompt C:\Users\guest_8k65j6c> appears. The > symbol tells
the user that they need to type in a command. Here, the command ‘dir’ was
entered, which asked the computer to list the files and directories (folders) that are
in the directory (folder) belonging to the user guest_8k65j6c. Notice that after
executing the command, the original prompt is shown again. In this example
there are no files in this directory, only other directories. The ‘dir’ command is
only one of hundreds of commands which are available in a CLI. It is possible to
2 Hardware and software

do any action with a CLI that could be achieved with a GUI. In fact, it could take
several clicks of the mouse and negotiation through a number of dialogue boxes
and menus in a GUI to achieve the same outcome as a single line of text in a CLI.

2.5.2 Graphical user interface

Window

Icons

Menu

▲ Figure 2.5 A graphical user interface screen

When CLIs were introduced, commands had to be typed in correctly with any
misspellings potentially causing the system to fail to perform as desired, and this
made the interface clumsy and confusing. There was a need for a less inefficient
means of communicating with the computer, which resulted in the creation of the
GUI. Instead of typing in commands, the GUI used windows, icons, menus and
pointers, collectively known as a ‘WIMP’ interface, to carry out commands, such as
opening, deleting, and moving files. Technically speaking, a WIMP interface is only
a subset of GUI and requires input devices such as a keyboard and mouse, whereas
other types of GUI use different input devices such as a touchscreen. Figure 2.5
shows a window, icons and a menu. A user can double-click on an icon, which could
represent a file, a folder or an application, and open it. A right click on a two-button
mouse opens a menu. By moving the mouse, the pointer can be moved up and
down through the menu and then an option can be selected by clicking on it.

2.5.3 Dialogue interface

A dialogue interface allows a user to communicate with a computer or device using
their voice. The computer is able to use speech-recognition software to convert
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the spoken word into commands it can understand. Many cars have such a system

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whereby the driver is able to control their phone or radio without touching them.
For example the driver is able to initiate a phone call by saying ‘phone Graham’ or
switch a particular radio channel on by saying the name of the channel. Laptops
and PCs often come with voice control these days. The user is able to load and
run software packages and files by speaking into a microphone and saying the
commands. The computer or device responds with spoken words after the required
text has been converted into speech. It requires the device to learn the way the
speaker talks by asking the user to repeat certain sentences until it has ‘learnt’ the

2.5 User interfaces

way they speak. It can, however, become quite capable of understanding simple
commands. Noise in the background while the user is speaking and the ability to
recognise only a limited vocabulary can cause problems.

2.5.4 Gesture-based interface

A gesture-based interface is designed to interpret human gestures and convert
these into commands. Gestures can be made with any part of the body, but it
is usually the face or hand that makes the gestures the computer can interpret.
An example of where this type of interface is used is in ‘smart’ homes where
a gesture can turn on the lights, for example. In this area of IT, a gesture can
be said to be any physical movement, large or small, that can be interpreted
by a computer. Examples of these are the pointing of a finger, nodding the
head, or a wave of the hand. These types of gestures can be understood by a
computer. First of all, a camera in conjunction with an infrared sensor detects
the movements being made in front of it. The computer, using a special type
of software, searches through all the gestures it has stored in a database to
match it with the input. Each stored gesture is linked to a specific command
which is then executed after the gesture has been matched.

2.5.5 Advantages and disadvantages of different types

of user interface
Users with disabilities may not be able to hold a mouse or click it, so a GUI
may not be suitable for them. They may not be able to type using a keyboard,
so using a CLI would also be inappropriate. They may not be able to control
the movement of their limbs accurately, so a gesture-based interface would be
unsuitable. In this instance, then, a dialogue interface would be the best type of
interface for them to use, although people with different disabilities may favour
a different type of user interface.
Despite this potential advantage of a dialogue interface, if there is
any background noise when the user is speaking, the computer might
misunderstand what is being said, which is not a problem when using the other
types of interface.
Some types of user interface would be inappropriate for hygienic reasons. If
a user was, for example, involved in the food service industry, then touching
a mouse, keyboard or touchscreen may be inadvisable while working, so a
GUI or CLI would not be suitable for them. However, they would be able
to make gestures and speak, so a gesture-based or dialogue interface would
be a sensible choice for them. On the other hand, certain gestures could
be misunderstood by the computer, particularly if the user has made them
without realising, and some gestures in certain cultures might be judged to
be inappropriate.

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In terms of accuracy, a GUI is better than gesture-based or dialogue interfaces.

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A gesture may not point exactly at an icon whereas a mouse can be more
accurately controlled, and voice inputs can be misunderstood by the speech-
recognition software.
CLIs and, to an extent, dialogue interfaces require the user to learn a lot of
commands, whereas GUIs and gesture-based interfaces are more user-friendly
and reasonably intuitive. CLIs do tend to be used by IT specialists and require a
certain amount of IT knowledge but this is not the case with GUIs or gesture-
based interfaces. Compared with a GUI, commands entered into a CLI are
2 Hardware and software

far more difficult to correct. There is a degree of editing allowed using the
arrow keys on a keyboard to manoeuvre to the line with the error, but this can
be far more awkward to do than using a mouse, for example. However, CLIs
tend not to change over time and once a user is familiar with one, they do not
have to relearn how to use a changed version. GUIs do tend to develop and
consequently the user has to learn how to use the new version, which can take
time.
Generally, the more advanced the type of interface, and this not only means
GUIs but also includes gesture-based and dialogue interfaces, the faster the
processing is and the greater the storage space required to store the interface
software compared with a CLI. Gesture-based and dialogue interfaces also
tend to be more expensive to develop than CLIs or even GUIs. Some situations
require the use of dialogue interfaces for safety reasons. A driver in a vehicle may
wish to play a particular piece of music using their in-car entertainment system.
To select it using a GUI or a gesture would require taking a hand off the
steering wheel, which could be dangerous, whereas using their voice through a
dialogue interface would not.

Activity 2h
1 Write down two advantages of using a GUI rather than a CLI.
2 Write down two disadvantages of using a gesture-based interface rather
than a dialogue interface.

Examination-style questions
1 Mainframe computer manufacturers often refer to RAS.
Explain what is meant by the term ‘RAS’. [3]
2 Explain how high-level language is translated to run on different
computer systems. [5]
3 Describe the terms: [4]
a sector
b block
c track
d cylinder.
4 Explain what is meant by custom-written software. [3]
5 Describe the features of a command line interface. [4]

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