How Medium Constraints Can Enforce Good Design

Construction of a drawing with Sketchpad is itself a model of the design process. The locations of the points and lines of the drawing model the variables of a design, and the geometric constraints applied to the points and lines of the drawing model the design constraints which limit the values of design variables. The ability of Sketchpad to satisfy the geometric constraints applied to the parts of a drawing models the ability of a good designer to satisfy all the design conditions imposed by the limitations of his materials, cost, etc. In fact, since designers in many fields produce nothing themselves but a drawing of a part, design conditions may well be thought of as applying to the drawing of a part rather than to the part itself. When such design conditions are added to Sketchpad's vocabulary of constraints, the computer will be able to assist a user not only in arriving at a nice looking drawing, but also n arriving at a sound design.

Notes:

Because Sketchpad forces designers to build small components first, it forces them to adhere to good design practices.

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Sketchpad, A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System

Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book Chapter: Sutherland, Ivan E (1963), Sketchpad, A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System, American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS) Conference Proceedings, 23:329-246, Retrieved on -0001-11-30