The Graphical Kernel System (GKS) was the first ISO standard for low-level

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...

, introduced in 1977. A draft international standard was circulated for review in September 1983. Final ratification of the standard was achieved in 1985.

Overview

GKS provides a set of drawing features for two-dimensional

vector graphics Vector graphics is a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associated mechanisms may include vector display ...

suitable for charting and similar duties. The calls are designed to be portable across different

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

s, graphics devices and hardware, so that applications written to use GKS will be readily portable to many platforms and devices. GKS was fairly common on

computer workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workst ...

s in the 1980s and early 1990s. GKS formed the basis of Digital Research's GSX and

GEM A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, an ...

products; the latter was common on the

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first per ...

and was occasionally seen on PCs particularly in conjunction with

Ventura Publisher Ventura ( Italian, Portuguese and Spanish for "fortune") may refer to: Places ; Brazil * Boa Ventura de São Roque, a municipality in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil * Boa Ventura, Paraíba, a municipality in the state of Paraíba, i ...

. It was little used commercially outside these markets, but remains in use in some scientific visualization packages. It is also the underlying API defining the

Computer Graphics Metafile Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) is a free and open international standard file format for 2D vector graphics, raster graphics, and text, and is defined by ISO/IEC 8632. Overview All graphical elements can be specified in a textual source ...

. A descendant of GKS was PHIGS. One popular application based on an implementation of GKS is the GR Framework, a C library for high-performance scientific visualization that has become a common plotting backend among Julia users. A main developer and promoter of the GKS was

José Luis Encarnação José Luis Moreira da Encarnação is a Portuguese computer scientist, Professor Emeritus at the Department of Computer Science of the Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany and a senior technology and innovation advisor to governments, m ...

, formerly director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics (IGD) in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. GKS has been standardized in the following documents: *

ANSI The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organi ...

standard ANSI X3.124 of 1985. * ISO 7942:1985 standard, revised as ISO 7942:1985/Amd 1:1991 and ISO/IEC 7942-1:1994, as well as ISO/IEC 7942-2:1997, ISO/IEC 7942-3:1999 and ISO/IEC 7942-4:1998 * The language bindings are ISO standard ISO 8651. * GKS-3D (Graphical Kernel System for Three Dimensions) functional definition is ISO standard ISO 8805, and the corresponding C bindings are ISO/IEC 8806. The functionality of GKS is wrapped up as a data model standard in the STEP standard, section

ISO 10303 ISO 10303 is an ISO standard for the computer-interpretable representation and exchange of product manufacturing information. It is an ASCII-based format. Its official title is: ''Automation systems and integration — Product data represe ...

-46.

References

External links

Unofficial source of current implementation information

GKS at FOLDOC
{{List of IEC standards Computer graphics Application programming interfaces Graphics standards Graphical Kernel System

Overview

See also

References

Further reading

External links