Chapter 2: Computer mouse

A mouse is a handheld pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is often translated into the movement of a pointer on a display, allowing for seamless control of a computer's graphical user interface.

1968 witnessed the first public demonstration of a mouse controlling a computer system. Mice initially utilized two distinct wheels to directly track their movement across a surface: one in the X dimension and one in the Y dimension. Later, internal rollers were connected to a ball that rolled across a surface to detect motion. The majority of contemporary mice use optical motion sensing with no moving parts. Many current mice are cordless, relying on short-range radio communication with the linked system. Originally, all mice were connected to a computer via a cable.

In addition to being able to move a cursor, computer mice feature one or more buttons that enable functions such as selecting a menu item on a display. Mice frequently include extra components, like as touch surfaces and scroll wheels, that permit greater control and dimensional input.

Bill English's July 1965 paper "Computer-Aided Display Control" has the oldest known documented use of the term mouse in reference to a computer pointing device. The prevalence of wireless mice without cords diminishes the similarity.

According to Roger Bates, a hardware designer under English, the moniker was also derived from the fact that the pointer on the screen was referred to as "CAT" for unknown reasons and was perceived by the team to be chasing the new desktop device.

The trackball, a comparable pointing device, was devised in 1946 by Ralph Benjamin as part of the Comprehensive Display System, a fire-control radar plotting system developed after World War II (CDS). Benjamin worked with the British Royal Navy Scientific Service at the time. Benjamin's project utilized analog computers to determine the future position of target aircraft based on a joystick user's input of many beginning points. Benjamin felt that a more sophisticated input mechanism was required, therefore he designed a "rolling ball" for this purpose.

Thierry Bardini has credited Douglas Engelbart of the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International) in his published works, Bill English joined ARC in 1964 and assisted Douglas Engelbart in developing the first mouse prototype.

Several other experimental pointing-devices for Engelbart's oN-Line System (NLS) leveraged alternative bodily movements, such as head-mounted devices hooked to the chin or nose, but the mouse ultimately prevailed because to its speed and convenience. At the time of the "Mother of All Demos," Engelbart's team had been using their second-generation, three-button mouse for approximately one year.

On 2 October 1968, three years after Engelbart's prototype but more than two months before his public demonstration, the German company AEG-Telefunken displayed a mouse device named Rollkugelsteuerung (German for "rolling ball control") as an optional input device for the SIG 100 vector graphics terminal, part of the system around their process computer TR 86 and the TR 440 [de main frame].

As mentioned previously, the gadget was based on a trackball-like device (also dubbed Rollkugel) that was installed in radar flight control workstations.

In 1973, the Xerox Alto was one of the earliest personal computers and is considered the first contemporary computer to use a mouse.

Inspiring by the PARC Alto, the Lilith, a computer which had been developed by a team around Niklaus Wirth at ETH Zürich between 1978 and 1980, also offered a mouse.

With the 1981 release of the Xerox 8010 Star, the third iteration of an integrated mouse meant for personal computer navigation was introduced.

The Xerox 8010 was the most well-known computer with a mouse in 1982. The Sun-1 also included a mouse, and the next Apple Lisa was speculated to use one; however, the peripheral remained opaque; Jack Hawley of The Mouse House stated that a customer from a major corporation initially believed that his company sold lab mice. Hawley, who manufactured mice for Xerox, claimed, "Right now, I practically have the market to myself"; a Hawley mouse cost $415. in 1985, the Amiga 1000 and the Atari ST were released.

Typically, a mouse controls the two-dimensional movement of a pointer in a graphical user interface (GUI). The mouse converts hand movements in the forward and backward, left and right directions into electronic signals that are used to move the cursor.

The relative motions of the mouse on the surface are applied to the position of the pointer on the screen, which indicates the location of the user's activities; hence, the pointer replicates hand movements. Clicking or pointing (stopping movement while the cursor is within the boundaries of an area) can be used to choose files, programs, or actions from a list of names, or (with graphical user interfaces) through small images called "icons" and other items. For instance, a text file may be represented by an image of a paper notebook, and clicking on this symbol could enable a text editor to open the file in a new window.

The GUI responds differently to various mouse manipulations:

Stop the movement of the pointer when it is within the bounds of the element the user wishes to interact with. The "pointer" and "pointing device" are named after the act of pointing. Web design terminology refers to pointing as "hovering." This usage has moved to web development and Android programming, and is currently widespread.

Click entails the depressing and release of a button.

Single-click: pressing the primary button.

(left) Double-click: hitting the button twice in rapid succession qualifies as a distinct action from two single clicks.

Triple-click: clicking the button three times in rapid succession is considered a different motion from three single clicks. Triple clicks are significantly less frequent in conventional navigation.

Right-click entails pressing the secondary button. In contemporary applications, this typically opens a context menu.

Clicking the tertiary button is known as a middle-click.

Drag entails depressing and holding a mouse button while dragging the pointer before releasing the button. This is often used to move or copy files or other items using drag-and-drop; additional applications include choosing text and drawing in graphics apps.

Chording with the mouse button or chord-clicking:

Using multiple buttons simultaneously to click.

While simultaneously clicking and typing a letter on the keyboard.

Simultaneously clicking and rolling the mouse wheel.

Clicking with a modifier key held down.

When the practical limit of mouse movement is reached, the mouse is lifted, moved to the opposite edge of the working area while held above the surface, and then lowered back onto the surface. This is typically unnecessary because acceleration software recognizes rapid mouse action and moves the pointer proportionally more quickly than for sluggish mouse motion.

Multi-touch: This method is comparable to a multi-touch touchpad on a laptop with support for tap input from many fingers; the most well-known example is the Apple Magic Mouse.

Users can also employ mice gesturally, which means that a stylized movement of the mouse cursor, known as a "gesture," can deliver a command or map to a particular activity. In a drawing application, for instance, a fast "x" motion with the mouse over a shape may remove the shape.

Gesture-based interfaces are less common than simple pointing-and-clicking interfaces, and people frequently find them more difficult to use since they need finer motor control. However, a few gestural norms, such as the drag-and-drop gesture, have grown common:

The user presses the mouse button while the cursor is positioned over an interface element.

The user drags the cursor to a new location while depressing the button.

The mouse button is released by the user.

For instance, a user may drag-and-drop an image of a file onto an image of a trash can to direct the system to destroy the file.

Examples of standard semantic gestures:

Cross-based objective

Drag and drop

Menu traversal

Pointing

The mouseover (pointing or hovering)

Selection

Other uses of the mouse's input are prevalent in particular application sectors. In interactive three-dimensional graphics, the movement of the mouse frequently corresponds directly to changes in the orientation of virtual objects or the camera. In first-person shooter games (see below), for instance, players typically use the mouse to control the direction the virtual player's "head" faces: pushing the mouse up causes the player to look up, revealing the view above the player's head. A related function rotates an image of an object so that it may be examined from all angles. Frequently, 3D design and animation software modally chords a variety of combinations to allow objects and cameras to be rotated and moved in space using the few axes of movement that mouse can detect.

When mice have multiple buttons, the program may assign each button a unique function. Typically, the primary (leftmost in a right-handed configuration) button on the mouse selects items, and the secondary (rightmost in a right-handed configuration) button displays a menu of alternative actions related to the selected item. On platforms with multiple buttons, the Mozilla web browser will, for instance, follow a link in response to a click on the primary button, display a contextual menu of alternative actions for that link in response to a click on...