CS ATLAS A map of computing

Domain 11 —

Graphics & Human–Computer Interaction

5 topics1963 — 2001
1963Sketchpad & Interactive Graphics1968GUIs & Human–Computer Interaction1968Virtual & Augmented Reality1980Rendering2001Programmable Shaders

Chronology — 22 entries

Chronology

Every milestone in this domain, ordered by date. An event shared by several topics is counted once.

1963SketchpadInteractive graphics and constraint solving.Sketchpad & Interactive Graphics
1964Sutherland joins ARPAHe pushes graphics and networking research.Sketchpad & Interactive Graphics
1965The Ultimate DisplaySutherland's vision.Virtual & Augmented Reality
1968The HMD paperAn early vision of virtual reality.Sketchpad & Interactive Graphics
1968The Mother of All DemosThe mouse and hypertext.GUIs & Human–Computer Interaction
1968The first head-mounted displayA mechanically tracked headset.Virtual & Augmented Reality
1973Xerox AltoBitmap screen and overlapping windows.GUIs & Human–Computer Interaction
1980Whitted ray tracingRecursive reflection and refraction.Rendering
1984MacintoshThe GUI reaches the public.GUIs & Human–Computer Interaction
1984RadiosityAn energy method for global illumination.Rendering
1986The Reyes pipelineFilm-grade micropolygon rendering.Rendering
1995Windows 95Graphical interfaces on the PC.GUIs & Human–Computer Interaction
2001Programmable shadersGPUs begin to accept general programs.Programmable Shaders
2006CUDAAn operating system for general-purpose GPU computing.Programmable Shaders
2007iPhoneMulti-touch.GUIs & Human–Computer Interaction
2009WebGL3D in the browser.Programmable Shaders
2012Oculus RiftConsumer VR revived.Virtual & Augmented Reality
2016Consumer VR arrivesVive and PSVR.Virtual & Augmented Reality
2018Real-time ray tracingRTX hardware.Rendering
2018Real-time ray tracing in shadersRay tracing combined with rasterised shading.Programmable Shaders
2020NeRFNeural radiance fields reconstruct a scene.Rendering
2023Vision ProSpatial computing.Virtual & Augmented Reality

Curriculum

Courses and labs

Which university courses this domain usually maps to, and whether the practical work is a standalone project course or an in-class lab.

In-class labs + a project

Graphics has cumulative programming assignments; HCI labs are a loop of design, prototype and user testing.

Courses

Computer GraphicsHuman–Computer Interaction (elective)

Open courses

  • Berkeley CS 184 Computer Graphics
  • Stanford CS 147 Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction

What the labs look like

  • The eight GAMES101 assignments

    Rasterisation, geometry, ray tracing, animation — the most popular graphics lab course in China

  • A renderer

    Write an offline renderer with BRDFs and global illumination, and produce one final image

  • Prototype and usability test

    Build a prototype in Figma or on the web, test it with five users and record time on task