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I do not yet know where in the window system documentation this
document will fit.  I am starting to write it in order to break a
writer's block.

I have been trying for some weeks to write WINMAN, a commission from
HIC.  The idea was that it was going to be a "cookbook": a graded
series of examples of window system programs, to which a programmer
could refer for models.

The block that has plagued me comes from the question: what should the
accompanying text to WINMAN be like?  Should it be very sparse, like
code documentation, or more extensive and explanatory?

Having tried the latter approach and failed, I conclude that the
former is the way to go.

This leaves a gap in the proposed documentation.  Where does the
necessary background to understand the cookbook come from?

This document is a try at filling that gap.

.chapter A Snapshot of the Window System

This chapter will describe the organization of the window system, that
part of the Lisp Machine software devoted to display management and
control. 

Lisp Machine display is organized into rectangular subdisplays called
2windows*.  Each window is of some specific type or 2flavor*.
We often call a window of a particular flavor an 2instance* of
that flavor.

Each instance of a flavor has two important components.  The first is
a structure of 2instance variables*, 

.chapter Extending the Window System