1Taxonomies, Paradigms, and the Untangling of Terminology

Free Online Dictionary of Computing (http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/)

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2.3Free Online Dictionary of Computing (http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/)

2.3.1batch

All input is prepared before the program is run and so cannot depend on the program’s output.

2.3.2interactive

Input/output is interleaved, like a conversation, allowing user’s input to depend on earlier output from the same run.

2.3.2.1real-time

An application which requires a program to respond to stimuli [i.e., input] within some small upper limit of response time.

2.3.2.2event-driven

A program, such as a GUI, with a main loop which just waits for events to occur. Each event [type] has an associated handler [software module].

2.3.2.3main loop

The top-level control flow construct in an input- or event-driven program; the one that receives and acts or dispatches on the program’s input.

2.4Tom Ellman on Batch vs. Continuous Transformation Systems (http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~ellman/old-courses/235-spring-2000/cs235-lecture23.pdf)

2.5Joyce Farrell Taxonomy (Programming Logic and Design, 2^nd ed., 2002, Ch. 10, p. 279ff)

You can divide computer programs into two broad categories based on how they get their data.

2.5.1Batch processing

Programs for which all the data are gathered prior to running use batch processing.

Many computer programs use batch processing with sequential files of data records that have been collected for processing. All standard billing, inventory, payroll, and similar programs work this way, and all the program logic you have developed while working through this text also works like this. Records used for batch processing are gathered over a period of time—hours, days, or even months. Programs that use batch processing typically read an input record, process it according to coded instructions, output the result, and then read another record. Batch processing gets its name because the data records are not processed at the time they are created; instead, they are “saved” and processed in a batch. For example, you do not receive a credit-card bill immediately after every purchase, when the record is created. All purchases during a one-month period are gathered and processed at the end of that billing period. …

A batch processing system can be off-line; that is, you can collect data such as time cards or purchase information well ahead of the actual computer processing of the paychecks or bills.

2.5.2Interactive processing

Programs that depend on user input while they are running use interactive processing.

Many computer programs cannot be run in batches. They must run interactively—that is, they must interact with a user while they are running. Ticket reservation programs for airlines and theaters must select tickets while you are interacting with them, not at the end of the month. A computerized library catalog system must respond to library patrons’ requests immediately, not at the end of every week. Interactive computer programs are often called real-time applications, because they run while a transaction is taking place, not at some later time. You also can refer to interactive processing as online processing, because the user’s data or requests are gathered during the execution of the program.

2.5.2.1Menu programs

A menu program is a common type of interactive program in which the user sees a number of options on the screen and can select any one of them. … The final option, Quit the Program, is very important; without it, there would be no elegant way for the program to terminate. A menu without a Quit option is very frustrating to the user.

Some menu programs require the user to enter a number to choose a menu option. … Other menu programs require the user to enter a letter of the alphabet [commonly based on a keyword in the displayed description of the menu option]. Still other programs allow the user to use a pointing device such as a mouse to point to a choice on the screen. The most sophisticated programs allow users to employ the selection method that is most convenient at the time.

Tip: Many organizations provide a [voice response] menu to callers to handle routing of telephone calls.

2.5.2.2Command line (Ch. 13, p. 371)

From the 1950s, when people began to use computers to help them perform many jobs, right through the 1960s and 1970s, almost all interaction between humans and computers was based on the command line. The command line is the location on your computer screen at which you type entries to communicate with the computer’s operating system. An operating system is the software that you use to run a computer and manage its resources. Interacting with a computer operating system was difficult because the user had to know the exact syntax (that is, the correct sequence of words and symbols that form the operating system’s command set) to use when typing commands, and had to spell and type those commands accurately.

2.5.2.3Graphical user interface (Ch. 13, pp. 371ff)

Fortunately for today’s computer users, operating system software is available that allows them to use a mouse or other pointing device to select pictures or icons on the screen. This type of environment is a graphical user interface, or GUI. Computer users can expect to see a standard interface in the GUI programs they use. Rather than memorizing difficult commands that must be typed at a command line, GUI users can select objects that look like their real-world counterparts and get the expected results. For example, users may select an icon that looks like a pencil when they want to write a memo, or they may drag an icon shaped like a folder[?] to another icon that resembles a recycling bin when they want to delete a file[?].

3Taxonomies of Program Logic Styles

3.1Loren K. Rhodes on “Procedural Control Model” vs. “User Interface Control Model” (http://faculty.juniata.edu/rhodes/smui/syllabus.htm)