Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Abstract
Computer graphics software is a function that digitally reproduces images, which are classified
in two major types, called raster graphics and vector (object-oriented) graphics. Computergraphics software has helped software development altering the graphical user interface (GUI)
and manipulating other tools. Computer graphics software is crucial for and has help people who
do not have experience on this field as well as people that might have it.
The types of graphics software vary enormously. Graphics enhance the utility of
spreadsheet and word-processing software by enabling users "without graphics skills or expertise
to make highly effective use of graphics in memos, presentations, and reports" (Carlson, 1999, p.
182). Seymour (1989) cites the example of the spreadsheet program Excel, with its GUI, as a
"Lotus-killer"--Lotus being the name of the very powerful (but text/data-interface) eclipsed in
the marketplace by the GUI.
Graphics are fundamental to the work of those who have strong graphics skills or
technical expertise. Prepress print preparation (desktop publishing) programs such as PageMaker
and QuarkXPress enable all manner of text and image manipulation. Computer-assisted design
and manufacturing (CAD/CAM), flight simulators, architecture, art, electronic games, and
molecular modeling (Computer, 2000) are other examples of specialized graphics software.
Implications of CAD/CAM are also addressed by Henderson (1999) from a theoretical
standpoint, via contrast between the culture of pre-computer engineering conceptual designs
executed on napkins and envelopes and the culture of computer-driven conceptualization and
visualization of engineering possibility. Her view is that the high-tech medium adds much
potentiality but also may transform (and not always positively) the manner, or visual language, in
which technical design occurs.
References
Carlson, D.H. (1999, December). Computer-based graphics tools for the graphically challenged.
Information Technology and Libraries, 18, 182.
Computer graphics, (2000). The Columbia Encyclopedia (Edition 6), 9128.
Henderson, K. (1999). On line and on paper: Visual representations, visual culture, and
computer graphics in design engineering. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Seymour, J. (1989, September 12). GUI: An interface you won't outgrow. PC Magazine, 15, 97103.