Sketchpad III Demo [video] (1963)

Sutherland saw, very early, that a constraint system was the way to go. We went through generations of CAD systems and draw programs which didn&#x27;t do constraints. Even today, most draw programs don&#x27;t do constraints as well as Sketchpad.<p>Sketch mode in Autodesk Inventor does constraints very well, including difficult geometry problems like circles tangent to other circles. This is a solved problem today, but tends to be solved right only in the better CAD systems.<p>(If only the HTML people had thought in terms of constraints. Left edge of box B is coincident with right edge of box A. Right edge of box B is coincident with right edge of window. Left edge of box A is coincident with left edge of window. Top edge of box A and top edge of box B are collinear. Boxes A and B have equal width. That&#x27;s the way to get two columns.<p>Unlike CSS layout, this concept can be extended beyond rectangular boxes; constraints with circles and splines are usually solveable.)

obligatory quote, for those who have not read it before<p>&gt; When asked, &quot;How could you possibly have done the first interactive graphics program,<p>&gt; the first non-procedural programming language, the first object oriented software system,<p>&gt; all in one year?&quot;<p>&gt; Ivan replied: &quot;Well, I didn&#x27;t know it was hard.&quot;

Ah, SketchPad. You put <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;catb.org&#x2F;jargon&#x2F;html&#x2F;story-of-mel.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;catb.org&#x2F;jargon&#x2F;html&#x2F;story-of-mel.html</a> to shame.<p>The <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;TX-2" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;TX-2</a>, the machine SketchPad ran on, had 460KB of 36-bit memory, <i>and it. ran. at. 400kHz</i> - yes - 400k instructions per second.<p>The CAD system that introduced the idea of the GUI, clipboard, OOP, and so many other things, ran only a little faster than the masked-ROM calculators you can buy for a couple dollars at the store down the road nowadays. It&#x27;s kind of depressing.<p>If you liked the OP video, you <i>must</i> watch <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;AlanKeyD1987" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;AlanKeyD1987</a>. It&#x27;s only 46:29 long.<p>I really, <i>REALLY</i> want the SketchPad program. If I had a bunch of money tucked away I would easily dedicate a decade of my life to trying to track it down.<p>As an aside, I&#x27;m not quite sure how to refer to the amount of memory it has, particularly considering that the memory is 36-bit and not 8-bit. Wikipedia says it has 64KB; the video says (I quote) &quot;460 K bytes&quot;.<p>References:<p>- I waxed philosophical about SketchPad a few months ago: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=13102757" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=13102757</a> (article: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=13097121" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=13097121</a>)<p>- <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;bitsavers.trailing-edge.com&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;mit&#x2F;tx-2&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;bitsavers.trailing-edge.com&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;mit&#x2F;tx-2&#x2F;</a>

Professor: &quot;We&#x27;re going to show you a man actually talking to a computer..&quot; Interviewer: &quot;Surely not with his voice.&quot;

More precisely, what&#x27;s being demoed is Sketchpad III, which improved Sutherland&#x27;s original 2d Sketchpad with 3d rendering capabilities. And Ivan Sutherland&#x27;s not in the video.

Douglas Englebart&#x27;s video is another classic video that took place in 1968:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;yJDv-zdhzMY" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;yJDv-zdhzMY</a><p>Light pen&#x27;s and chorded keyboards in the 1960&#x27;s.