🚀 go-pugleaf

We've done some work here at UofT on a system that allows you to interactively
wire up icons on the screen to perform some task.  The icons can represent
programs or physical devices like keyboards and D/A converters.  We've used
it to control a music synthesizer, and to build a filter simulation package.
We've been calling the idea Virtual Patch Cords (VPC).

In looking around, we have discovered at least half a dozen other systems
that have the same flavour.  Here is a partial list of the papers we know
about.  If anyone has some more that could be added to the list, please
let us know.

%A David Blythe
%A John Kitamura
%A David Galloway
%A Martin Snelgrove
%T Virtual Patch-Cords for the Katosizer
%J International Computer Music Conference 1986
%P 359-363
%I Computer Music Association
%C San Francisco, CA
%D Oct 1986
%K virtual patch cords ICMC
%X An object-oriented graphics system is presented which allows a musician
to program a very versatile signal processor/synthesizer by drawing a block
diagram of the desired 'patch'.

%A David Galloway
%A David Blythe
%A Martin Snelgrove
%T Graphical CAD of Digital Filters
%J IEEE Pacific Rim Conference on Communications, Computers and Signal Processing
%C Vancouver, BC
%D June 1987
%K virtual patch cords digital filters
%X A system that allows a filter designer to wire together basic filter
elements on the screen, then watch them react to simulated inputs.

%A Peter Desain
%T Graphical Programming in Computer Music: a Proposal
%J International Computer Music Conference
%P 161-166
%I Computer Music Association
%C San Francisco, CA
%D Oct 1986
%K direct manipulation virtual patch cords ICMC
%X Lisp based graphical environment for building up patches.
Suggested application is programming of signal processors, but no back
end implemented.
Discussion of direct manipulation versus conversational metaphors, advantages
and disadvantages thereof.
Other suggested applications: studio patches, music composition, UNIX pipes.

%A Andrea A. diSessa
%T Notes on the Future of Programming: Breaking the Utility Barrier
%E Donald A. Norman and Stephen W. Draper
%B User Centered System Design: New Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction
%P 125-152
%I Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
%C Hillsdale, NJ
%D 1986
%K device programming virtual patch cords boxer direct manipulation
%X Mainly an article on Boxer, a replacement for Logo at MIT.
Contains 2 page description of "device programming", which fits virtual
patch cords to a tee.

%A Paul E. Haeberli
%T A Data-flow Environment for Interactive Graphics
%J Proc. of the Second Computer Graphics Workshop
%P 1-12
%I USENIX Association
%C El Cerrito, CA
%D December 1985
%K virtual patch cords
%X A set of slides given at a talk.  Describes a virtual patch cord system
for an Iris.
Contrasts virtual patch cords and the UNIX shell.
Intended for use in a graphical editing environment, with sliders, recorders,
2 and 3D curve editors, etc.
No implementation at the time.

%A Paul E. Haeberli
%T A Data-Flow Manager for an Interactive Programming Environment
%J USENIX Summer Conference Proceedings
%P 419-428
%I USENIX Association
%C El Cerrito, CA
%D June 1986
%K virtual patch cords
%X An expanded description of virtual patch cord work at Silicon Graphics.
Description of implementation.  Comparison to UNIX shell.
Applied to graphical editing environment.
No macros yet.

%A Byte
%T Labview: Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench
%J Byte Magazine
%P 84-92
%D Sept 1986
%K VPC virtual patch cords
%X This system is very close to VPC, but is oriented towards real time instrument
control, over GPIB.
It has hierarchy and a full set of programming primitives, including looping
and recursion.