Direct Manipulation and Virtual Environments - Essay Example

Direct Manipulation and Virtual Environments Direct Manipulation and Virtual Environments Direct manipulation is an interaction style through a computer which involves progressive representation of reversible, rapid, and incremental actions and objects of interest. The intention of applying the style is to allow the user to directly manipulate presented objects through the use of actions that correspond loosely to the natural world. A good example of the direct manipulation is resizing of shapes, such as resizing a rectangular shape by dragging its ages or corners using a mouse.

An incremental feedback gives chance to the user to minimize errors and consume less time in completing a task. This is because users can see the outcomes of an action before completing the object; thus, evaluating the results and compensating for mistakes (Wang and Tsai, 2011).A command line structure on the other hand is an interaction with a computer program through which the user gives commands to the program in the form of consecutive lines of texts. A command line shell is used to implement an interface.

The command line shell is a program that would accept commands as text input converting them to operating system functions. Programs are easily automated through scripting if only they have command line interfaces. The command line structure provides an access to the arguments and the name used to invoke the running program (Wang and Tsai, 2011).Direct manipulation style can be applied in pupil’s interaction with some educational software. The computer interface can encourage people to think, plan on relevant issues and learn more successfully.

The direct manipulation is very effective to learning and is likely to broaden learners’ notion on task beyond their computer interaction. This style will be effective in increasing learner’s legibility in future to improve the current processes and create new processes.ReferenceWang, X., & Tsai, J. J.-H. (2011). Collaborative design in virtual environments. Dordrecht: Springer.