A succinct graphical user interface programming model for low-end embedded devices

Adapting graphical user interface, or GUI, is a promising way for low-end embedded devices to accommodate ever-increasing functions within limited space and to make them accessible for users. However, most of existing GUI tool kits are not suitable for this purpose because their intended targets are desktop computer applications, not embedded systems. Since the user interaction model and resource restrictions of low-end embedded devices are totally different from those of desktop applications, we propose a succinct GUI programming model as an alternative to the one for desktop computers. The proposed model mainly addresses three design issues: conforming to the appropriate interaction model, resource-conscience, and adaptation to crude run-time environments. We implemented MGT, an experimental GUI toolkit based on the proposed programming model, to evaluate the effectiveness of our model.