|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2004 Kyoto Prize Laureates 
Advanced Technology Category
Prize Field: Information Science "For creating the concept of modern personal computing and contributing to its realization." Dr. Alan Curtis Kay (U.S.A., b. 1940) Computer Scientist President, Viewpoints Research Institute Commentary on Achievements (a) Up to the Creation of the "Personal Computer" Concept Dr. Kay was a member of the first class of the Computer Doctoral Program in the Graduate School of the University of Utah. He says that during this time he was fascinated by the Sketchpad developed by his supervisor Ivan Sutherland and the NLS (oN Line System) developed by Daglas Engelbart. The former allowed pen input from the screen, and the latter included such new technologies as a bitmap display, word processing functions, and a mouse. NLS was developed under the concept of "a computer to support human intellectual activities," and was considered a remarkable innovation at the time. 
Fig. 1: Illustration of the FLEX Machine taken from the title page of the doctoral dissertation (1969).
Dr. Kay joined the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in 1971, where he further developed his personal computer concept. His notion of the ideal computer took shape as a portable tool/medium that could be used by anyone, even a child, and could be connected via a wireless network. 
Fig. 2: Illustration of the Dynabook drawn by Dr. Kay in 1972.
He called this the "Dynabook" machine, meant to elicit images of "dynamic paper." Figure 2 shows the Dynabook as drawn by Dr. Kay himself, depicted with a child sitting outdoors in front of it drawing a picture on a pad. This image is so close to today's laptop computer that it's hard to imagine it was done in the heyday of large mainframes - the larger the better - and is testimony to the debt today's personal computer owes to his vision. Once he had framed the concept of the Dynabook, Dr. Kay took steps to turn it into reality, participating in the production of the Alto at PARC as an interim Dynabook. (b) Development of a Human Interface in Pursuit of Ease of Use Ease of use is an important element in creating a computer accessible to anyone. Dr. Kay also played a central role in the development of the graphical user interface (GUI). 
Fig. 3: Windows system lineage, divided into three periods; Earliest stages, R&D period, and Practical application period. The Alto machine running the Smalltalk system influenced all future GUIs. (Encyclopedia of Information Processing, Edited by the Information Processing Society of Japan, Ohmsha, 2002) cThe Information Processing Society of Japan. Reproduced with permission.
User interface is the generic term that describes the input and output devices and methods directly manipulated by the person at the computer. Operating a screen that displays graphics is easier to learn and master than operating a computer by entering commands. There are various definitions for a GUI, but generally it is defined as an I/O component that includes four elements: windows, icons, menus, and a pointing device. (A pointing device means such as a mouse or joystick, that permits navigation to a specific spot on the screen.) Dr. Kay was one of the principal designers of the Alto personal computer at PARC. Among the technological achievements of the Alto were: 1) one computer per person, 2) a bitmap display (606 x 808), 3) a laser printer, 4) an interactive communication system (Smalltalk), 5) a mouse-operated window system (overlapping windows, pop-up menus, folder-shaped icons), 6) Ethernet connection, and 7) a client/server network. These features represent components commonly found in the modern personal computer. In particular, the innovative interface using visual operation was the origin of the current GUI and made a major contribution to today's personal computing technology. The Alto was the first computer to achieve WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) using a GUI, and the combination of the Alto and an Ethernet (ARPAnet) later became the nucleus around which the Internet was born. The 1977 paper by Dr. Kay and Adele Goldberg, "Personal Dynamic Media" (IEEE Computer, March 1977, pp. 31-41), is a compilation of ideas for the personal computer. A famous anecdote has it that Steve Jobs from Apple Computer, who went to see the Alto machine in 1979, later created the Macintosh, and, influenced by the Macintosh interface, Microsoft created the Windows operating system. Figure 3 shows the lineage of the Windows system. (c)Demonstration of an Object-Oriented Programming Environment Object-oriented syntax is one of the advanced concepts that evolved for programming. The packaging together of data and operations makes it possible to create a programming environment that utilizes programming resources efficiently and reduces mistakes. For example, the normal concept for calculating the addition problem of 2 + 3 = 5 is to provide the data (2, 3) and then perform a calculation to "add" these numbers. In an objected-oriented language, however, the calculation is performed by passing an object (a combination of data and operations) "+3" to "2." For example, the unit called a "window" on the personal computer screen appears as a combination of data and buttons, is a sort of an object. The group at PARC led by Dr. Kay developed an integrated programming language and programming environment called "Smalltalk" over a 10-year development period. The phrase "small talk" means light conversation about trivial things. Prior to Smalltalk, there was another language called SIMULA (1967) that was developed by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard. SIMULA included basic concepts like class, object, and dynamic binding. By comparison, Smalltalk treated a variety of things as objects and presented a system concept to accompany the GUI that had a major impact on computer system design thereafter. Development of Smalltalk ended with Smalltalk-80, the last version to bear the Smalltalk name, released in 1980. The object-oriented concept was inherited by C++ and Java and is utilized in today's system design. The article by Dr. Kay, "Microelectronics and the Personal Computer" (Scientific American, Sept. 1977, pp. 231-244) gives a detailed explanation of Smalltalk. (d) Work on Computer Education for Children From the very beginning, Dr. Kay has stated that one of the prerequisites for a computer is that it should be easy for a child to use. For that reason, he has been closely involved with computer education for children, especially small children. While a graduate student, Dr. Kay came across the LOGO language being developed by Seymour Papert and Marvin Minsky. LOGO aimed to be a programming language that could even be used by children. The simplicity of LOGO influenced Dr. Kay's later Dynabook concept and Smalltalk development. As the supervisor for the Learning Research Group at PARC, Dr. Kay was involved in the design of the Alto machine and Smalltalk. For four years starting in 1973, they had 250 children aged 15 or younger use the Alto machine while they researched ways of utilizing an interactive computer as a teaching aid. They also studied the reactions of children to learn about the issues associated with personal computer design and educational approaches. They reported that children required a computer with higher performance than that required by adults and that they had a strong latent potential for programming. In the mid 1990s, Dr. Kay and his associates became heavily involved in child education using computers. Because an educational development environment that could be programmed easily by users was desired, they evolved Smalltalk further to create "Squeak." Squeak (named for the sound made by a mouse) is provided to R&D people as an open-platform, open-source program that is used around the world as a program development environment and as child education software. In Japan, Dr. Kay is leading the "ALAN K" (Advanced LeArning Network in Kyoto) project that was recently started in collaboration with the City of Kyoto and Kyoto University. Glossary <Alto> The personal computer that was produced at PARC in 1976. Dr. Kay called this the provisional version of his "Dynabook" personal computer. <ARPA> Advanced Research Project Agency of the US Department of Defense. The ARPA supported the Graduate School at the University of Utah where Dr. Kay studied as a graduate student. <ARPAnet> The computer network that was developed and established through the ARPA. It was the forerunner of the Internet. <Dynabook> The name given by Dr. Kay to his ideal for a personal computer. He gave it this name because he envisioned it as a flat panel computer that could be carried by children. <FLEX> The name given to the prototype personal computer and system language in Dr. Kay's doctoral dissertation. It stands for Flexible EXtendable Language. <LOGO> A program language developed by Seymour Papert and Marvin Minsky in the late 1960s so as to be accessible to anyone, even children. It influenced Dr. Kay's Smalltalk and Squeak. <OOP> Object-oriented programming. <PARC> The Palo Alto Research Center established by Xerox for computer development in the 1970s. <SIMULA> The simulation language that was the first to use the idea of object orientation. It was developed by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard in the late 1960s. <Smalltalk> The system software created by Dr. Kay's group at PARC in the late 1970s. It received high praise for its integrated object-oriented programming environment. <Squeak> The programming environment oriented to the general public that was created by Dr. Kay and associates in the mid 1990s based on Smalltalk. It is well known for its use in child computer education. <WYSIWYG> The acronym for "what you see is what you get." What is displayed on the screen appears exactly as it will be output to a printer. It was first realized in the Alto machine. |
|