Recall the Poke Pearl from this week$$s lecture. One of the things that make the

Macintosh and Windows interfaces easy to learn and to use, is that many things are done $$by

direct manipulation.$$ That is$,$ you click, or double$-$click, or click and drag, or option$-$click$-$drag,

etc., on some piece of the interface to make something happen. This is almost always easier and

more natural than selecting menu items and dialog boxes.

For example: If I triple$-$click on a word, Word highlights the entire paragraph.

Another example: if I option$-$click$-$drag the mouse across some text, I can select a rectangular

block of text that can then be cut or copied in the usual way.