ASSIGNMENT 08

In contrasting the read-evaluation loop and the notification-based paradigm for

interactive programs, the construction of a pre-emptive dialog was discussed. How
would a programmer describe a pre-emptive dialog by purely graphical means?

Answer:

A pre-emptive dialog can be easily created graphically. It is believed that the user can only interact with
system components that are visible in a graphics-based interaction. For instance, in a windowing
system, the user can only direct input to the one window that is presently selected, and the only way to
change the selected window is to make a gesture within that window. The system can build a window
that fills the entire screen and make it the active window in order to construct a preemptive dialog. The
'covering' window precludes any other user activity aside from that which it is defined to support since
all user input would then be sent to that window and the user would have no way of selecting another
window.