Y Window System
Encyclopedia
The Y Window System is a windowing system
, consisting of a window server
and a client library
for writing applications. It was written by Mark Thomas as the subject of his Master's thesis
at Imperial College, London. It is intended to be a successor to the X Window System
, hence the name. It differs from the X Window System in having an integrated widget
set and ground-up support for things like an alpha channel, which allows transparent or translucent windows.
At the end of his Master's Thesis, Thomas had a working system with some applications. Later he released the code and set up a community project. Y uses SDL
, and in theory can run under any system that supports SDL.
, the project is incomplete and not undergoing active development; the developers do not have time to work on this project.
, the project has been forked, and XGL and Cairo support added. However, support for SDL and fbdev has been removed. The development seems to have stalled as well since the end of 2006.
A much earlier usage of the term "Y Window System" was made by Philip Taylor of Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London
, in an April Fools' Day
spoof submitted to the LaTeX
-L mailing list on April 1, 1992; a copy of the article appears as the fourth message in an archive stored on the Department of Mathematics web site at the University of Utah
.
Windowing system
A windowing system is a component of a graphical user interface , and more specifically of a desktop environment, which supports the implementation of window managers, and provides basic support for graphics hardware, pointing devices such as mice, and keyboards...
, consisting of a window server
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
and a client library
Library (computer science)
In computer science, a library is a collection of resources used to develop software. These may include pre-written code and subroutines, classes, values or type specifications....
for writing applications. It was written by Mark Thomas as the subject of his Master's thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
at Imperial College, London. It is intended to be a successor to the X Window System
X Window System
The X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...
, hence the name. It differs from the X Window System in having an integrated widget
Widget (computing)
In computer programming, a widget is an element of a graphical user interface that displays an information arrangement changeable by the user, such as a window or a text box. The defining characteristic of a widget is to provide a single interaction point for the direct manipulation of a given...
set and ground-up support for things like an alpha channel, which allows transparent or translucent windows.
At the end of his Master's Thesis, Thomas had a working system with some applications. Later he released the code and set up a community project. Y uses SDL
Simple DirectMedia Layer
Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform, free and open source multimedia library written in C that presents a simple interface to various platforms' graphics, sound, and input devices....
, and in theory can run under any system that supports SDL.
, the project is incomplete and not undergoing active development; the developers do not have time to work on this project.
, the project has been forked, and XGL and Cairo support added. However, support for SDL and fbdev has been removed. The development seems to have stalled as well since the end of 2006.
A much earlier usage of the term "Y Window System" was made by Philip Taylor of Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
, in an April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...
spoof submitted to the LaTeX
LaTeX
LaTeX is a document markup language and document preparation system for the TeX typesetting program. Within the typesetting system, its name is styled as . The term LaTeX refers only to the language in which documents are written, not to the editor used to write those documents. In order to...
-L mailing list on April 1, 1992; a copy of the article appears as the fourth message in an archive stored on the Department of Mathematics web site at the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
.