Table Of ContentLecture Notes ni
Computer Science
Edited yb .G Goos dna .J Hartmanis
49
evitcaretnI smetsyS
Proceedings, ht6 Informatik muisopmyS
MBI Germany, daB Homburg .v .d ,.H
rebmetpeS 6791
Edited yb .A Blaser dna .C Hackl
Springer-Verlag
Berlin. Heidelbercl New York 91 7 7
Editorial Board
P. Brinch Hansen . D. Gries • C. Moler • G. SeegmLiller. J. Stoer
N. Wirth
Editors
Albrecht Blaser
IBM Deutschland GmbH, Wissenschaftliches Zentrum
TiergartenstraSe 15
6900 Heidelberg/BRD
Clemens Hackl
IBM Deutschland GmbH, UV Wissenschaft
Pascalstra6e 100
7000 Stuttgart 80/BRD
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Informatik ~ymposium~ 6th~ Homburg vor der ~ehdY} 1976.
Interactive systems o
(Lecture notes in computer science ; 49)
English or German~
1. Interactive computer systems--Congzesses.
Io Blaser~ Albrecht. II. Hackl, Clemens E.~ 1924-
Ill. IBM Deutschland. IV. Title~ V. Series.
158153 QA76o9o 19~6 o01.6'4 77-4195
AMS Subject Classifications (1970): 00A10,6 8-02, 68A05, 68At0, 68A20,
68A55, 68-03
CR Subject Classifications (1974): 2.4, 3.2, 3.31, 3.5, 3.8, 4.2, 4.3, 6.2
ISBN 3-540-08141-0 Springer-Verlag Berlin • Heidelberg • New York
ISBN 0-387-08141-0 Springer-Verlag New York • Heidelberg • Berlin
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© by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg • 1977
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PREFACE
During the last years the topics of IBM Germany's Informatik Symposium
changed from computer systems subjects to the problems of computer
users and computer applications.
This change in symposium subjects follows a general trend in data
processing towards providing computing capability to users who
generally are not data processing specialists. New approaches for
programming, more intelligent peripheral units through local
programming, and price performance improvements in hardware allow an
offering of computer services to users who have little interest in
anything but the results they require.
Following this trend, the 1976 Informatik Symposium was devoted to
interactive systems. The following are just a few reasons for this
choice:
.I Continuity of the symposium subjects: interactive systems are
closely related to the data base topic of the 1975 symposium. Many
subjects covered last year are prerequisites for the interactive
use of programs, as for instance the parametric use of DB/DC based
application programs, the development of data manipulation
languages etc.
.2 Actuality of interactive systems: Today, a large number of
interactive system products exist. The IBM products CMS, TSO, ETSS,
VSPC, and APL, are only a few examples. Because of the variety of
underlying concepts and implementations, it is certainly worthwhile
to investigate the present state in this field from a system user's
as well as from a system designer's point of view.
3. Trends in application development: There is an increasing tendency
in data processing for using standardized application programs in
which many options, decisions and functions are preprogrammed. The
user of such programs is prompted by the system to select from a
number of options at certain points during the program execution.
Such a development, however, imposes many questions to the computer
scientist. Very likely, it is the field of interactive systems
VI
where computer science can develop the strongest interactions to
other disciplines.
.4 Mission of the IBM Scientific Center at Heidelberg: The main
projects in the center are closely related to the symposium
subject. Application development concepts for endusers, interface
problems, and problem solving techniques for application experts
with little data processing experience are within the
responsibility of the Center. We expected that the symposium would
give stimulation and critique to our work in this field.
According to our assessment of the symposium subject, the agenda is
structured in a system and a user oriented part. After an overview
about interactive systems, the first two sessions cover problems in
the design and managment of interactive systems. The third session
centers around questions within the area of application development.
Program development by endusers, personalized computing and
behavioural issues in man-machine communication are central subjects.
In the forth session examples of the application of interactive
systems are given in the area of educational systems, product
development, method and data base evaluation, transaction system, and
planning systems. The closing session is devoted to the increasing
demands on transmission networks and communication facilities as vital
parts in future systems.
The symposium was organized by the Scientific Relations Department of
IBM Germany and sponsored by IBM Germany and IBM Europe. The editors
would like to express their gratitude and appreciation to the
sponsors, to all the lecturers, and to the many contributors within
and outside of IBM who gave advice and assistance in preparing,
organizing, and running this symposium.
Stuttgart, December 1976
C. Hackl A. Blaser
CONTENTS
OPENING SESSION
Interactive Systems - Overview
T.E. CLIMIS ...........................................................
SESSION : 1 SYSTEM DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Interactive Systems - Product Design Consideration
A. L. SCHERR ........................................................... 12
Design Considerations for New Programming Languages
G. SEEGMUELLER ......................................................... 22
Betrachtungen zum Entwurf interaktiver Systeme
H. J. HOFFMANN ......................................................... 38
SESSION 2: MANAGING INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS
Managing Interactive Systems for User Effectiveness
R. P. KELISKY ......................................................... 93
Performance Analysis of Interactive Systems
Y. BARD ................................................................ 108
Erfahrungsbericht ueber den Einsatz interaktiver Systeme
bei der Fried. Krupp GmbH
M. ACHENBACH ............................................................ 125
SESSION 3: APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT
Interactive Systems - Patterns and Prospects
W. GILOI ................................................................ 144
Application Development by Endusers
R° KOGON, E. KEPPEL, D. KROPP ....................................... 164
APL - A Tool for Personalized Computing
D. LATTERMANN ......................................................... 177
Behavioral Issues in the Use of Interactive Systems
L. A. MILLER, J. C. THOMAS, Jr. . ................................... 193
IV
SESSION 4: USE OF INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS - EXAMPLES
Educational Systems
217
W. AUGSBURGER .........................................................
Interactive Systems for Computer Assisted Product
Development and Testing in Small and Intermediate
Enterprises
258
R. FRITZ ..............................................................
Verknuepfung von Daten- und Methodenbanken dargestellt am
Beispiel der Analyse von Marktforschungsdaten
273
P. MERTENS, W. NEUWIRTH, W. SCHMITT ...............................
Datenverarbeitung mit Bildschirm als Instrument der
Betriebsorganisation im Versicherungsbetrieb
314
A. TROEBLIGER .........................................................
Interactive Simulation Models in Planning
341
F. SCHOBER ............................................................
CLOSING SESSION
Evolutions in Communication Systems 361
K. GANZHORN ............................................................
OPENING SESSION :
INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS - OVERVIEW
T.E. CLIMIS , IBM Harrison
HISTORY OF INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS
In the following remarks, I am going to use the term "Interactive
Systems" in its broadest sense. I realize that common use of this
term implies something rather specific: a person sitting at a ter-
minal, either a typewriter or display screen, and interacting with
a computer - generally through a language such as BASIC, FORTRAN, or
APL. But, instead of limiting my discussion to this form of "Inter-
active System", I prefer using the term to encompass any form of
real time communication between a person, a computing system and the
data which is contained within that system.
Although many might think that interactive systems have evolved
during the past five or ten years, this is not the case. One of the
first comprehensive interactive systems was developed in the United
States in the mid to late 1950's. This was the SAGE (Semi Automatic
~round Environment) early warning system developed by the U.S.
Defense Department. SAGE consisted of a large number of data pro-
cessing installations interconnected with each other for both
communication and backup purposes. It included detection devices
such as radar which automatically fed information into the computers.
Within the computing site, situation displays were being constantly
generated and presented to military personnel who could query the
system for certain types of information and get immediate responses.
Although the interactive capabilities of SAGE were limited, it was
one of the first, large scale systems designed for interaction. In
addition, SAGE was designed for high availability and reliability.
If one site was inoperative, adjoining sites could pick up the
workload and continue operation.
It is interesting to note that today we are still grappling with the
same extremely complex technical problems of interaction, networking
and high availability.
On the commercial side, at about the same time that SAGE was being
implemented, American Airlines and IBM worked together to develop
an airlines reservation system which became known as SABRE*.
This system, the predecessor of all automatic airlines reservation
systems, was designed for interactive operation. Ticketing agents
were connected to a data processing system which kept information
on future flights. The agents could query the system as to availa-
bility of seats, add or delete passengers from a passenger list,
query passenger lists for verification that a passenger had a re-
servation on a given flight, and perform a number of other functions.
SABRE had theusual amount of technical problems in implementation
Rut has proven to be a model for the industry.
At about the same time, similar systems were being developed for
Pan American Airways and Delta Airlines, and other computer
manufacturers were working with other airlines to develop their
interactive systems. Many improvements and additions to these early
airlines reservation systems have evolved through the years, but
the basic system approach was developed during the 1950's.
Recognizing that interactive systems would be quite attractive to
a number of industries, IBM in the late 1950's announced a product
called the 305 RAMAC and also produced an enhancement to the 650
* An IBM project identified as SABER (~emi Automatic Business
Environment Research) but later changed, by American Airlines to
SABRE ("a cutter of time").
data processing system which allowed the attachment of up to four
interactive typewriter terminals. The capability of these early
machines was limited by central processor cycle and memory con-
straints, but their primary purpose was to allow people to sit at
a typewriter-like terminal and query the system for information.
Their prime application area was expected to be inventory control,
and thus personnel in this area could determine the s~atus of any
specific part number.
I mention these two products to indicate that interactive computing
has long been considered a significant commercial application area
for data processing and that this recognition existed in the late
1950's.
In the 1960's, the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority, which monitors
and controls the movement of aircraft at major airline terminals
and between airports in the United States, developed a computer
assisted system which allowed ground controllers to view aircraft
activity in their zone of control. The object was to provide the
controllers with more information as they communicated with pilots
and attempted to provide safe takeoffs, landings and transits. While
the initial systems allowed only very limited interaction with the
data processing system, improvements made through the years now
allow a fair degree of human interaction with the Computer and
provide additional information to the ground controllers.
I have been reviewing some of these early systems to indicate that
interactive computing is really about 20 years old. Its beginnings
in the mid to late 1950's have culminated in today's relatively
sophisticated systems. While I have limited my examples to IBM and
the United States, similar activities were defined and undertaken
by other manufacturers in many countries.
MAJOR FORCES FOR INTERACTIVE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
I would now like to spend some time discussing what I feel are the
major forces which were responsible for influencing the development
of data processing in an interactive direction.
The first force is economies. In its simplest form, an enterprise
sees that, by providing the ability for its people to enter and
access data directly, it can save money or improve productivity
(which results in saving money). For example:
A significant reduction in clerical staff may be achieved entering
data only once via an interactive capability and then providing
multiple copies to be viewed or acted upon as required via a
terminal. Examples of this are in inventory control or airlines
reservations. Not only is the error rate reduced but the volume
and movement of paper between locations is reduced.
By providing a technical or engineering staff with an interactive
capability, not only to develop programs for the system but also
to use developed programs for the typical calculations which they
are asked to perform, technical people achieve a major improvement
in productivity.
Today, in the area of programming development, significant produc-
tivity increases can be achieved by allowing programmers to use
an interactive system for code writing and debugging. At the same
time significant decreases in the cost of computing power, ad-
vances in telecommunications and decreased cost of on-line storage
have made such improvement economically feasible.
The second force which drove the development of interactive systems,
was in the area of protection. Protection has two categories. The
first is national defense which involves systems to protect the
country from intrusion by unfriendly forces. The second area is the
protection of human life. In this area we have already discussed the
FAA system for ground monitoring of aircraft. Another example is the
real time operation of extremely sensitive devices such as nuclear
power generators. Here people are interacting with a data processing
