User Interfaces
Computer Science: OCR GCSE, topic 1.5.4
User Interfaces
The user interface allows users to interact with a computer system.
Command line interfaces
- A command line interface (CLI) is an environment where the computer is controlled by typing text commands using the keyboard.
- The computer cannot display graphics, only text.
- CLIs use less memory than graphical interfaces.
Graphical user interfaces
- Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are more modern environments to work in.
- GUIs are usually based on the window-icon-menu-pointer paradigm or a multi-touch interface.
WIMP
- WIMP stands for window-icon-menu-pointer:
- Applications can be seen in movable, resizable windows.
- Programs and documents are represented by icons.
- Options are available via menus.
- User interaction is through moving a pointer.
Test yourself on User Interfaces
Why might a user choose to use a command line interface rather than a graphical user interface?
Which of these statements are true about graphic user interfaces (GUIs) compared to command line interfaces (CLIs)?