computer science

Selection (user interface)

Selection (user interface) is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Selection (user interface) rather than just read about it. In short: In computing and user interface engineering, a selection is a list of items on which user operations will take place. The user typically adds items to the list manually, although the computer may create a selection automatically.

Key takeaways

Selection (user interface) belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Selection (user interface) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Selection (user interface) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

In computing and user interface engineering, a selection is a list of items on which user operations will take place. The user typically adds items to the list manually, although the computer may create a selection automatically. Selections are enacted through combinations of key presses on a keyboard, with a precision pointing device (mouse or touchpad and cursor, stylus), or by hand on a touchscreen device. The simultaneous selection of a group of items (either a subset of elements in a list, or discontinuous regions in a text) is called a multiple selection. Context menus will usually include actions related to the objects included in the current selection – the selection provides the "context" for the menu.

Types

Uses Text selection is associated with the cut, copy and paste operations and done with a cursor, caret navigation or touch. Image editing applications can feature specialized graphical tools for the selection and modification of areas and shapes or to interact with colours, such as the magic wand selection tool, the lasso selection tool, the marquee selection (bounding box), or the color picker. The border of a selected area in an image is often animated with the marching ants effect to help the user to distinguish the selection border from the image background. Video editing programs may utilise dynamic controls and advanced digital effects on the selected region. Files and other interface components can be selected and used with the advent of GUIs. Selection and manipulation in 3D virtual environments

Range selection A selection method to facilitate the selection of large amounts of text or items in a long list such as files and folders in file managers is range selection, sparing the user from clicking or tapping each item individually. On desktop file managers such as the Windows Explorer and Nemo file manager, it can be used by clicking on the first item to be selected, then holding the ⇧ shift key while clicking on the last item to be selected. In mobile file managers, it is implemented since early versions of ES File Explorer, where only two listed items (file or directory) need to be highlighted and a button pressed to select all items in-between. Ideally, the two list items are navigated to with a draggable scroll bar, since it can move through long lists faster.

Selection with dragging The user taps or clicks on the first item, drags upward or downward, and waits for the list to scroll to the last desired item, at which the user releases the pointer or finger. The same applies to text.

Simultaneous editing

Simultaneous editing is a technique in End-user development research to edit all items in a multiple selection. It allows the user to manipulate all the selected items at once through direct manipulation. The technique also appears in data wrangling tools, allowing the user to make the same changes to several records of the same kind in a table. The term simultaneous editing is also used to describe collaborative editing in collaborative real-time editors.

Column selection

A column selection is a text selection feature found in text editors which allows the user to select characters in a grid-like fashion, selecting characters in several lines at the same columns. This is usually initiated by pressing the alt key (instead of the shift key, which creates a continuous selection) to select text when dragging. Some applications also enable text to be typed in multiple lines at once using this method as a limited form of simultaneous editing. The feature is known by different names in different applications:

block selection – LibreOffice Writer, Kate column selection – EditPlus, vi, Emacs non-linear text selection – TextEdit rectangular selection – jEdit column block selection – Microsoft Visual Studio column mode editing – Notepad++

Free-form simultaneous editing The Lapis text editor, Mozilla's Firefox developer tools, and the multi edit plugin for gedit are examples of the simultaneous editing technique that work on discontinuous regions through direct manipulation. The Lapis editor can also create an automatic multiple selection based on an example item.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Selection (user interface)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Selection (user interface) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Selection (user interface) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Selection (user interface) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Selection (user interface)

In research: Selection (user interface) appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Selection (user interface) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Selection (user interface) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Computing stubs, User interface techniques, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Selection (user interface) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Selection (user interface) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Selection (user interface) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Selection (user interface) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Selection (user interface) in simple terms?

Why does Selection (user interface) matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Selection (user interface)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Selection (user interface).