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A point-and-shoot interface is an efficient object-oriented, text-based interface, usually presented on a non-GUI platform such as DOS or mainframe computers. In a point-and-shoot, many objects are displayed in a list, and to the left of each object is an input field. The operator interacts by moving the cursor to the desired object and marking it by typing a letter or number which represents a command or function.
An example of a point-and-shoot is presented here (the computer is an IBM System/36):
ACT01 YOUR APPLICATION GoTo Cust#______________ WORK WITH ACCOUNTS GoTo Name_______________ SORT BY CUSTOMER NUMBER GoTo Addr_______________ CUST# NAME ADDRESS _ 29358235 SMITH, MARY 100 PARK PLAZA _ 30493404 JONES, JOHN 271 LINCOLN AVE _ 34034559 HOOTON, DENISE 56 BROADWAY _ 36359523 HOWELL, BARBARA POST OFFICE BOX 2358 (More) COMMANDS: 2=Edit 4=Delete 5=Rename H=History P=Print COMMAND KEYS: RollUp/Dn 5=Add 6=Sort 7=End 8=Change Application 9=Reports 24=Sign off
The top of the display is called the header. It contains the program name and description, and it allows the operator to immediately "go to" a certain partial or complete customer ID, name, or address. It identifies the columns of data presented.
The middle of the display is called the data area. It consists of one input-capable field and one output field per line.
The bottom of the display is called the footer or the legend. It describes the commands the operator can use on each object, and the command keys the operator can use to control the application.
The IBM 3270 is a family of block oriented display and printer computer terminals introduced by IBM in 1971 and normally used to communicate with IBM mainframes. The 3270 was the successor to the IBM 2260 display terminal. Due to the text color on the original models, these terminals are informally known as green screen terminals. Unlike a character-oriented terminal, the 3270 minimizes the number of I/O interrupts required by transferring large blocks of data known as data streams, and uses a high speed proprietary communications interface, using coaxial cable.
Multiple Virtual Storage, more commonly called MVS, was the most commonly used operating system on the System/370 and System/390 IBM mainframe computers. IBM developed MVS, along with OS/VS1 and SVS, as a successor to OS/360. It is unrelated to IBM's other mainframe operating system lines, e.g., VSE, VM, TPF.
A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and large-scale transaction processing. A mainframe computer is large but not as large as a supercomputer and has more processing power than some other classes of computers, such as minicomputers, servers, workstations, and personal computers. Most large-scale computer-system architectures were established in the 1960s, but they continue to evolve. Mainframe computers are often used as servers.
Transaction Processing Facility (TPF) is an IBM real-time operating system for mainframe computers descended from the IBM System/360 family, including zSeries and System z9.
Computerized batch processing is the running of "jobs that can run without end user interaction, or can be scheduled to run as resources permit."
z/OS is a 64-bit operating system for IBM z/Architecture mainframes, introduced by IBM in October 2000. It derives from and is the successor to OS/390, which in turn followed a string of MVS versions. Like OS/390, z/OS combines a number of formerly separate, related products, some of which are still optional. z/OS has the attributes of modern operating systems, but also retains much of the older functionality originated in the 1960s and still in regular use—z/OS is designed for backward compatibility.
In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine from the human end, while the machine simultaneously feeds back information that aids the operators' decision-making process. Examples of this broad concept of user interfaces include the interactive aspects of computer operating systems, hand tools, heavy machinery operator controls, and process controls. The design considerations applicable when creating user interfaces are related to, or involve such disciplines as, ergonomics and psychology.
Computer operating systems (OSes) provide a set of functions needed and used by most application programs on a computer, and the links needed to control and synchronize computer hardware. On the first computers, with no operating system, every program needed the full hardware specification to run correctly and perform standard tasks, and its own drivers for peripheral devices like printers and punched paper card readers. The growing complexity of hardware and application programs eventually made operating systems a necessity for everyday use.
In computing, Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF) is a software product for many historic IBM mainframe operating systems and currently the z/OS and z/VM operating systems that run on IBM mainframes. It includes a screen editor, the user interface of which was emulated by some microcomputer editors sold commercially starting in the late 1980s, including SPF/PC.
Time Sharing Option (TSO) is an interactive time-sharing environment for IBM mainframe operating systems, including OS/360 MVT, OS/VS2 (SVS), MVS, OS/390, and z/OS.
A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that can be used for entering data into, and transcribing data from, a computer or a computing system. The teletype was an example of an early day hardcopy terminal, and predated the use of a computer screen by decades.
IBM CICS is a family of mixed-language application servers that provide online transaction management and connectivity for applications on IBM mainframe systems under z/OS and z/VSE.
Common User Access (CUA) is a standard for user interfaces to operating systems and computer programs. It was developed by IBM and first published in 1987 as part of their Systems Application Architecture. Used originally in the MVS/ESA, VM/CMS, OS/400, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems, parts of the CUA standard are now implemented in programs for other operating systems, including variants of Unix. It is also used by Java AWT and Swing.
The IBM 3790 Communications System, developed by IBM's Data Processing Division (DPD), was announced in 1974. It was one of the first distributed computing platforms. The 3790 preceded the IBM 8100, announced in 1979.
In computing, a shell is a computer program which exposes an operating system's services to a human user or other programs. In general, operating system shells use either a command-line interface (CLI) or graphical user interface (GUI), depending on a computer's role and particular operation. It is named a shell because it is the outermost layer around the operating system.
The System Display and Search Facility (SDSF) component of IBM's mainframe operating system, z/OS, is an interactive user interface that allows users and administrators to view and control various aspects of the mainframe's operation and system resources. Some of the information displayed in SDSF includes Batch job output, Unix processes, scheduling environments, and status of external devices such as printers and network lines. SDSF is primarily used to access the batch and system log files and dumps.
SPF/PC was an MS/DOS-based text editor and file manager designed to have an interface that was familiar to those using mainframe SPF and ISPF.
System Support Program (SSP) was the operating system of the IBM System/34 and System/36 minicomputers. SSP was a command-based operating system released in 1977.
A command-line interface (CLI) processes commands to a computer program in the form of lines of text. The program which handles the interface is called a command-line interpreter or command-line processor. Operating systems implement a command-line interface in a shell for interactive access to operating system functions or services. Such access was primarily provided to users by computer terminals starting in the mid-1960s, and continued to be used throughout the 1970s and 1980s on VAX/VMS, Unix systems and personal computer systems including DOS, CP/M and Apple DOS.
Distributed Data Management Architecture (DDM) is IBM's open, published software architecture for creating, managing and accessing data on a remote computer. DDM was initially designed to support record-oriented files; it was extended to support hierarchical directories, stream-oriented files, queues, and system command processing; it was further extended to be the base of IBM's Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA); and finally, it was extended to support data description and conversion. Defined in the period from 1980 to 1993, DDM specifies necessary components, messages, and protocols, all based on the principles of object-orientation. DDM is not, in itself, a piece of software; the implementation of DDM takes the form of client and server products. As an open architecture, products can implement subsets of DDM architecture and products can extend DDM to meet additional requirements. Taken together, DDM products implement a distributed file system.