This report consists of two papers on MENUNIX, an experimental interface to the approximately 300 programs and files available on the Berkeley UNIX 4.0 version of the UNIX operating system. The first paper discusses some of the psychological concerns involved in the design of MENUNIX; the second is a tutorial user manual for MENUNIX, in which the…

This first of two related articles by the same authors describes the philosophy, design, and implementation of an experimental translating computer system, CONIT, whose purpose was to investigate techniques for simplifying access to, and operation of, bibliographic retrieval systems. Forty-one references are cited. (FM)

Intended for users of the 3RIP text retrieval database, for retrieval system users with a knowledge of the EURONET Common Command Language (CCL), and for 3RIP system managers, this booklet provides a complete description of the 3RIP retrieval system command language. New functions and recent changes in the 3RIP system are summarized, system…

This paper describes a system which operates on an independent basis as well as connected to communications network, e.g., PLATO and ASCII based communication systems. The system also has facilities for local production and use of PILOT lessons, for support of a generalized programming language (NSBASIC), and for development of graphic sequences.…

FRED (a Front End for Databases) was conceived to alleviate data access difficulties posed by the heterogeneous nature of online databases. A hardware/software layer interposed between users and databases, it consists of three subsystems: user-interface, database-interface, and knowledge base. Architectural alternatives for this database machine…

This report describes the development of computer programs called user agents, which, through interaction with users, can either learn new facts and store them in a data base or learn new procedures for data manipulation and represent them as programs. These programs are written in RITA, the Rule-directed Interactive Transaction Agent system, and…

This paper describes the construction and implementation of an autoprogramming system. An autoprogrammer is an interactive computer programming system which automatically constructs computer programs from example computations executed by the user. The example calculations are done in a scratch pad fashion at a computer display, and the system…

Discusses intelligent front-end processors designed to impose uniform standards on multiple databases and assist searchers, including motivation for development, prototypes from research community, commercial systems using microcomputers, capabilities and problems encountered in developing Franklin Institute's Online Database Search Assistance…

With emphasis on currently operating and planned systems that assist users in accessing available network services, this report identifies the techniques used in network access devices. By examining these devices, the trend toward improving the interface between the user and the computer is brought more clearly into focus and up to date. One…

The Teacher-Interactive Computer System (TICS) is an on-line and interactive programing system for authoring interactive programs, particularly instructional programs. The system provides a fairly natural language, in which the author's statements for creating items in a program, for examining the structure and flow, for simulating its use by…

Describes the computing environment and command language for a new programing language called OUSBASIC which is designed to enable naive users to interact usefully, with little assistance, with a computer system. (Author/CHC)

The technical feasibility of a continental information network for astronomy has been demonstrated in the course of a two-month experiment conducted jointly by Dearborn Observatory of Northwestern University and the Stanford University Computation Center. The experiment simulated a scientific information network based on a high-level retrieval…

Command-driven searches would be facilitated, as users move from system to system, if a common command language were used. Proposed standards for a "Common Command Language for Online, Interactive Information Retrieval" have been developed by National Information Standards Organization (NISO) Committee G, and are now being reviewed for…

Describes computer program which converts text of user input and system responses from online search system into fixed format records describing interaction. Query language syntax, format of output record produced by parser, problems in constructing parser, its performance characteristics, and recommendations for improving process of logging…

The basic objective of the development of man-machine interactive systems is to design a system that will most effectively take into account the limitations and talents of both man and machine, recognizing that the human factors are, in certain aspects, diametrically opposed to those of the computer. This document briefly investigates those…