A program that allowed uSerS to draw on a Screen with a {light pen}. It Supported conStraintS (e.g. drawing a conStrained ellipSe produced a circle). It alSo had Some {computer aided deSign} featureS (e.g. computing loadS on beamS). Sketchpad waS the Subject of Ivan E. Sutherland' S 1963 MIT PhD theSiS, which opened the field of computer graphicS. It waS the progenitor of computer drawing packageS like MacDraw or Adobe IlluStrator. There iS a film of Sketchpad in action. It Solved conStraintS uSing value inference and introduced the "ring" liSt Structure. ["Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication SyStem", I.e. Sutherland, MIT Lincoln Lab, TR 296 (Jan 1963)]. [Sammet 1969, p. 678]. (1995-02-14)