Sketchpad was a revolutionary computer program written by Ivan Sutherland in 1963 in the course of his PhD thesis. It helped change the way people interact with computers. Sketchpad is considered to be the ancestor of modern computer-aided drafting (CAD) programs as well as a major breakthrough in the development of computer graphics in general. Ivan Sutherland demonstrated with it that computer graphics could be utilized for both artistic and technical purposes in addition to showing a novel method of human-computer interaction. Ivan Sutherland Ivan Sutherland, working at MIT (1963) Ivan Edward Sutherland (born 1938 in Hastings, Nebraska) is a computer programmer and Internet pioneer. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... A Lego RCX Computer is an example of an embedded computer used to control mechanical devices. ... Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of a wide range of computer-based tools that assist engineers, architects and other design professionals in their design activities. ... CAD is a TLA that may stand for: Cadiz Railroad (AAR reporting mark CAD) Canadian dollar – ISO 4217-code Capital Adequacy Directive Card Acceptance Device Children of the Anachronistic Dynasty Computer-aided design Computer-aided detection (medical) Computer-aided diagnosis (medical) Computer-assisted dispatch Computer-assisted drafting Coronary artery disease... It has been suggested that CG artwork be merged into this article or section. ... This computer generated image was created using the program Sterling Fractal, which uses a fractal to seed the colouring algorithms and filters. ... CAD is a TLA that may stand for: Cadiz Railroad (AAR reporting mark CAD) Canadian dollar – ISO 4217-code Capital Adequacy Directive Card Acceptance Device Children of the Anachronistic Dynasty Computer-aided design Computer-aided detection (medical) Computer-aided diagnosis (medical) Computer-assisted dispatch Computer-assisted drafting Coronary artery disease... Human–computer interaction (HCI) or, alternatively, computer–human interaction (symbolized as Χ χ Chi, the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet) is the study of interaction between people (users) and computers. ...

Sketchpad was the first program ever to utilize a complete graphical user interface. Sketchpad used an x-y point plotter display as well as the then recently invented light pen. The clever way the program organized its geometric data pioneered the use of "objects" and "instances" in computing and pointed forward to object oriented programming. The main idea was to have master drawings which one could instantiate into many duplicates. If the user changed the master drawing all the instances would change as well. Another major invention in Sketchpad was to let the user easily constrain selected geometrical properties in the drawing. For instance the length of a line or that two lines should have a specific angle between them. Sketchpad ran on the Lincoln TX-2 computer at MIT. This article or section needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ... A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with the computers CRT monitor. ... Table of Geometry, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a computer programming paradigm in which a software system is modeled as a set of objects that interact with each other. ... The Lincoln TX-2 computer was the successor to the Lincoln TX-0 and was known for its role in advancing both artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction. ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT is organized into five schools and one college, containing 34 academic departments and 53 interdisciplinary laboratories, centers and programs. ...

In 1963 most computers ran jobs in batch job mode only, using punch cards or magnetic tape reels submitted by professional programmers or engineering students. A considerable amount of work was required to make the TX-2 operate in interactive mode with a large CRT screen. When Sutherland had finished with it, it had to be reconverted to run in batch mode again. This involved some major hardware reconstruction as well as software work. Batch processing is the sequential execution of a series of programs (jobs) on a computer. ... Punched cards (or Hollerith cards, or IBM cards), are pieces of stiff paper that contain digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. ... Compact audio cassette Magnetic tape is a non-volatile storage medium consisting of a magnetic coating on a thin plastic strip. ... Engineering is the application of scientific and mathematical principles to develop economical solutions to technical problems, creating products, facilities, and structures that are useful to people. ... It has been suggested that Crookes tube be merged into this article or section. ... Hardware is the general term that is used to describe physical artifacts of a technology. ... Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ...

The Sketchpad program was part and parcel of Sutherland's Ph.D. thesis at MIT. It was reprinted in 1980 under the title Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System. It is now out of print but several university libraries have copies and it is also present on the rare book market. For a PhD thesis it is remarkably clear and readable. A new electronic edition (3.9MB PDF) was published in 2003. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• Kay, Alan Doing with Images Makes Symbols Pt 1 Video presentation by Alan Kay that demonstrates Sketchpad (Sketchpad demo starts at 2:54).
• Sutherland, Ivan Edward. Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System. New York: Garland Publishers, 1980. ISBN 0-8240-4411-8.
• Sutherland, Ivan Sketchpad: A man-machine graphical communication system, Ivan Sutherland's PhD Thesis.
• Sutherland, Ivan Edward. Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System, a paper from AFIPS conference proceedings.