Windowing system

A windowing system is a graphical user interface (GUI) which uses the window as one of its primary metaphors. It is normally one part of a larger desktop environment.

Related Topics:
Graphical user interface - Window - Desktop environment

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From a programmer's point of view, a windowing system implements graphical primitives such as rendering fonts or drawing a line on the screen, effectively providing an abstraction of the graphics hardware.

Related Topics:
Programmer - Fonts

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A window system enables the computer user to work with several programs at the same time. Each program runs in its own window, which is a rectangular area of the screen. Most window systems allow windows to overlap, and provide means for the user to perform standard operations such as moving/resizing a window, sending a window to the foreground/background and minimizing/maximizing a window.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some window systems, like X, have advanced capabilities such as network transparency, allowing the user to run graphical applications on a remote machine.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~