Unit 5 Interfaces
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ScribdTranslationsUNIT 5 INTERFACES
5.1 BASIC CONCEPTS
SOME DEFINITIONS OF INTERFACE
As a principle, the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy
define interface as a word derived from the English term 'interface'
contact surface) and defines it as follows: Physical connection and
functional between two independent devices or systems.
For a better understanding of this meaning, let's give an example. If
if we extrapolated this concept to real life, we could say that the keyboard of
a phone would be a user interface (machine-human interface), while
that the plug would be the interface (machine-to-machine interface) that allows for the
phone contact the telephone exchange.
The fundamental idea in the concept of interface is that of mediation, between
man and machine. The interface is what "mediates", what facilitates the
communication, the interaction, between two systems of different nature,
typically the human being and a machine like the computer. This implies,
Moreover, it is a translation system, since the two 'speak'
different languages: verbo-iconic in the case of man and binary in the case
of the electronic processor.
In electronics, telecommunications, and hardware, an interface (electronic) is the
port (physical circuit) through which signals are sent or received from a
system or subsystems towards others (machine-to-machine interface). There is no
universal interface, but there are different standards (USB interface, interface
SCSI, etc.) that establish specific technical specifications (characteristics
common), so the interconnection is only possible using the same
interface at source and destination.
INTERFACE ON A PC
In the field of hardware, we find terms that refer to interfaces:
port, data port, bus, data bus, slot, expansion slot. Also, in
In hardware, an interface is considered the medium through which a disk
hard drives communicate with other components of the computer; it can be IDE,
SCSI, USB or Firewire.
Interface (communication channel) special circuit that allows adaptation of the
characteristics of the peripherals to that of the system bus, establishing
communication protocols to control the flow of information in various ways
appropriate and effective (electrical signal, transmission speed, code of
characters). These serial or parallel devices connected to the 'back plane'
from the computer.
In computer programming, graphical interface is also discussed.
user, what is a method to facilitate user interaction with
computer or the computer through the use of a set of
images and pictorial objects (icons, windows, etc.) in addition to text.
In a broad sense, an interface can be defined as the set of commands and/or
methods that allow the program to communicate with any other
program or between parts (modules) of the program itself or internal element or
external. In fact, peripherals are controlled by interfaces.
Steps for interface design
Classic Steps
In the process of designing a user interface, four can be distinguished
fundamental phases or steps:
Gather and analyze user information:
That is to specify through requirements techniques, what type of users
they are going to use the interface, what tasks the users are going to perform and how they are going to
carry out, what the users of the program demand, in what environment they
users develop (physical, social, cultural).
Design the user interface.
It is important to dedicate time and resources to this phase before entering into the
coding. In this phase, the usability objectives of the program are defined,
the user's tasks, the objects and actions of the interface, the icons, views and
visual representations of objects, object menus, and windows.
All visual elements can be made first by hand and then refined.
with the right tools.
Build the user interface.
It is interesting to create a preliminary prototype, a first version of the program.
that it is done quickly and allows visualizing the product for testing it
before definitively coding it
Validate the user interface.
Usability tests of the product should be conducted, preferably with the
own end users of it.
In summary, it is important to create a design that starts from the user, and not from the
system.
5.2 CLASSIFICATION
There are different classifications of interfaces; however, in the course that
We are interested, we manage two types:
MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE: They are those that allow a connection,
communication and understanding between man and some device.
Human-machine interface
The user interface is the way users can communicate with
a computer or any other device, and comprises all the points of
contact between the user and the team. Its main functions can be:
File and Directory Manipulation
Application development tools
Communication with other systems
State information
Configuration of the interface and environment itself
Data exchange between applications
Access control
The interactive help system.
We encounter two types of user interface:
Hardware interface: It is a set of devices that allow the
man-machine interaction, in a way that allows for inputting and retrieving data from the
computer or other device.
Software interface: They are programs or parts of them that allow expression
our wishes to the computer or another device.
MACHINE-MACHINE INTERFACE: These are the ones that allow the connection,
communication and/or understanding between two or more devices. Their main
functions can be:
Communication with other systems
State information
Data exchange between devices
5.3 LOW-LEVEL PROGRAMMING
As we all know, digital systems (computers, devices of
telecommunications, etc.) work through Boolean logic that this
based on the binary system (zeros and ones), well this is the language to
lower level that we can find when programming interfaces.
However, due to the difficulty (that was presented to them from the beginning to the
interface developers), to quickly understand this language (zeros
and some) this is how the idea of another language arose, which was given the name
of the assembler.
Assembly language is based on 'mnemonics' which are abbreviated symbols
from the instructions of some microprocessor or microcontroller. To each
operation code (machine instruction) corresponds to a mnemonic, of that
the programmer will not have to see zeros and ones but symbols that will
give an idea of what each instruction does.
The assembly language in general is based on the same (mnemonics) for
any microprocessor or microcontroller, however depending on the
Manufacturer and model may include more or less instructions.
One of the most widespread standards of assembly language for
computers is the one established by the company Intel from its
8086 microprocessor, this is due to the fact that it has traditionally been the
company that leads in sales and development of processors for
personal computers.
Regarding microcontrollers, there is no undisputed leader, as each
microcontroller manufacturer is dedicated to developing it for applications
specific. However, in the course, the standard of the
Microchip company, because a PIC model microcontroller will be used.
16F84A, which has only 35 instructions due to its structure
RISC type, which makes it very powerful and efficient.
5.4 APPLICATIONS
There are endless applications for interfaces whether human-machine or
machine-machine, most can be developed both with a computer
normal as with a microcontroller, to mention just a few
the following classifications we have:
Monitoring systems
Process control systems
Data acquisition systems
Process automation
Execution of specific tasks
Electronic instrumentation
Other applications that could be available and in which several are implied.
interfaces would be:
Electronic toys (this sure has 90% of them containing a microcontroller)
Watches
Alarm Clocks
Lighting control
Robots
Thermometers
Christmas lights
Alarms
Electronic locks
A typical application could use several microcontrollers (interfaces
modular) to control small parts of the system. These small
controllers could communicate with each other and with a central processor,
probably more powerful, to share information and coordinate their
actions, as, in fact, already commonly occurs on any PC.
SOURCES:
www.wikipedia.com
www.mitecnologico.com
www.monografias.com
Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language
