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Sketchpad, by Dr. Ivan Sutherland with comments by Alan Kay

David Carroll

57 subscribers • 1 video on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 3 people: 3 on Hacker News.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2016 to 2024.
  • Presented by Alan Kay, computer scientist

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

53K views19 years ago3 recommendations

Graphics and audioHistory and cultureHistory of computingRendering

Historical footage of Ivan Sutherland demonstrating Sketchpad, the first interactive computer graphics system, with commentary by Alan Kay.

Earliest known footage of Dr. Ivan Sutherland's MIT PhD. thesis, Sketchpad, the world's first computer graphics system, with commentary by Dr. Alan Kay, of PARC.

Why it's here

3 people recommend this

What people say. Highly recommended as a foundational piece of computing history showing early interactive graphics and GUI concepts.

crdroston Hacker News • Recommends

On “Defense of Lisp macros: The automotive field as a case in point”

Related to the visual simulations, one of Alan Kay's favorite demos over the years has been to show folks Sketchpad, link to this video partly as a "this is what we were doing in 1962, you are now as far removed from that demo as that demo was removed from the year 1900 -- do you really feel like you've made the analogous/concomitant progress in programming?" ... and one of his points there was that a lot of programming acts as a "pop music" where you are trying to replicate the latest new sounds and marginally iterate on those, rather than study the classics and the greats and the legacy of awesome things that had been done in the past.
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aidoson Hacker News • Recommends

On “Programming computer animation in 1964 [video]”

So good. It never ceases to amaze me what could be done in such constrained systems (I guess it'll always look like that in retrospect). For anyone who has never seen it, Sketchpad, from the 60s: link Edit: With commentary from Alan Kay! link to this video
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Jachon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?”

…ses, Digital Fundamentals by Floyd is a common textbook (I have an old 8th edition). History-wise, enjoy learning slowly because there's so much that even if you dedicated yourself to it you wouldn't be "done" any time soon! Some suggestions in order though: Watching The Mother of All Demos : link A short clip of Sketchpad presented by Alan Kay: link to this video An article from the 40s that also inspired Engelbart: link The Information by James Gleick What the Dormouse Said by John Markoff The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerald Weinberg Lastly, to mix up in whatever order you please, some paper collections: Object-Oriented Programming: The CLOS Perspective edited by Andreas Paepcke Hist…
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mpweiheron Hacker News • Mentions

On “Was Alan Kay wrong? And why does that matter?”

…ut in fact he doesn't just rest on his awards (Turing...) or patents or having had a hand in creating just about every aspect of what we now consider computing. He's still going strong. So yes, there is a peanut gallery. You just may be confused as to who is sitting in it and who is on stage changing the world. 1 link 2 link 3 link 4 link to this video 5 link 6 link 7 link 8 link 9 link 10 [LIN…
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dpflanon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Pens Are Making a High-Tech Comeback”

Reminded me of Dr. Ivan Sutherland's "SketchPad" demo; here's a video of it with Alan Kay commenting: link to this video
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genmonon Hacker News • Mentions

On “The Intention Behind Think Kit”

Makes me think of what this would look like generalised... drawing with lines and shapes that have their own programmable constraints. See Sutherland's Sketchpad demo (1962!) link to this video Really this is when drawing goes beyond the physical world, and we get to start treating the computer as a co-worker. Snap-to-shape is the first step.
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f00_on Hacker News • Mentions

On “An introductory course in computer programming (1965)”

what do you think of the visual programming in unreal engine similar for unity? have never used it, but supposedly you can go back and forth between c++ and the drag-and-drop interface i really like scratch, have started using this tool called pibakery that has a similar block-based interface: link If nothing else, visual programming is of educational value etc: Seymour Papert's Logo maybe fits in somewhere here (source of turtle graphics) sketchpad: link to this video
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Red_Tarsiuson Hacker News • Mentions

On “MacPaint Evolution”

Go to www.macpaint.org for more info and a nice selection of classical artworks. I guess Ivan Sutherland's 1963 Sketchpad was a major influence on Bill Atkinson: a pioneering program that allowed users to draw and adjust lines on a monitor with a light pen! link to this video You can try MacPaint 2.0 (updated by David Ramsey in 1988) here link
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u/cxzukin r/ProgrammingLanguages • Mentions

On “You know of any programming languages designed for the HCI of the Wacom screens?”

I apologise! While Engelbarts work was great. I was meant to link you to Ivan Sutherlands 1962 Scatchpad >I often visualize it as myself or another person. With the idea being I'm responsible for doing this and will coordinate with you doing that. I feel like this idea for children and this idea for adults are linked to the same innate ability. If this is a direction you're interested in, Alan Kays 1987 Doing with Images makes Symbols might be something you'll enjoy. I'm hugely influenced by Alan, but his ideas are sometimes so far from todays computing that he can be difficult to understand. The entire video is well worth a watch too ✌
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u/Bitsoflogicin r/ProgrammingLanguages • Mentions

On “Let's share our ideas, misery and favorite features”

Snippet from a talk... link to this video
1View on Reddit