Enhancing documents with embedded programs: How Ness extends insets in the Andrew ToolKit

Hansen, Dr. Wilfred J. (1990) Enhancing documents with embedded programs: How Ness extends insets in the Andrew ToolKit. In Proceedings 1990 International Conference on Computer Languages, pages pp. 23-32, Los Alamitos, CA.

Abstract

An enhanced document responds to its reader in non-traditional ways: a button press may scroll the document, play music, ... . Although such operations may be implemented as objects embedded in text, full generality requires that a programming language be available to the author of a document. This paper sketches the problems of embedding programs in documents and reviews the solutions adopted in the Ness component of the Andrew ToolKit. A key question is the connection from user actions to program functions. Other questions include the appropriate level of programming language, its string processing capabilities, and security.