Design of an object-oriented language syntax for UIL, the User Interface Language of the Space Station FREEDOM

Abstract

The design of a new computer language, called the User Interface Language (UIL), is analyzed and evaluated by coding a representative procedure. UIL will provide the man-machine interface for command procedures on the Space Station FREEDOM. The UIL procedure written is modeled after an operational procedure used in the Space Shuttle program. This work provides a concrete test case to verify that UIL can be used to implement procedures for the Space Station. The object oriented approach taken with UIL is based on the successful application of these concepts for a variety of other software tools in operation today. Three major enhancements are proposed in this thesis: event handlers, data structures, and class/object creation capabilities. The addition of these capabilities changes the character of UIL from an object manipulation language to an object based language. The new capabilities, if adopted, will profoundly change the future of UIL.