Acme: A User Interface for Programmers

A hybrid of window system, shell, and editor, Acme gives text-oriented applications a clean, expressive, and consistent style of interaction. Traditional window systems support interactive client programs and offer libraries of pre-defined operations such as pop-up menus and buttons to promote a consistent user interface among the clients. Acme instead provides its clients with a fixed user interface and simple conventions to encourage its uniform use. Clients access the facilities of Acme through a file system interface; Acme is in part a file server that exports device-like files that may be manipulated to access and control the contents of its windows. Written in a concurrent programming language, Acme is structured as a set of communicating processes that neatly subdivide the various aspects of its tasks: display management, input, file server, and so on. Acme attaches distinct functions to the three mouse buttons: the left selects text; the middle executes textual commands; and t...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1994
• Where: USENIX
• Authors: Rob Pike
• Keywords: File Server, Operating System, USENIX 1994, User Interface, Window Systems