This likely originated from its resemblance to the shape and size of a mouse, with the cord resembling its tail.

The earliest known written use of the term mouse or mice in reference to a computer pointing device is in Bill English's July 1965 publication, 'Computer-Aided Display Control'. Mice often also feature other elements, such as touch surfaces and scroll wheels, which enable additional control and dimensional input.Įtymology A computer mouse is named for its resemblance to the rodent. In addition to moving a cursor, computer mice have one or more buttons to allow operations such as the selection of a menu item on a display.

Though originally all mice were connected to a computer by a cable, many modern mice are cordless, relying on short-range radio communication with the connected system. Most modern mice use optical movement detection with no moving parts. Later, the standard design shifted to use a ball rolling on a surface to detect motion, in turn connected to internal rollers. Mice originally used two separate wheels to directly track movement across a surface: one in the x-dimension and one in the Y. The first public demonstration of a mouse controlling a computer system was done by Doug Engelbart in the Mother of All Demos. This motion is typically translated into the motion of the pointer (called a cursor) on a display, which allows a smooth control of the graphical user interface of a computer. For the animal, see Mouse.Ī computer mouse with the most common features: two buttons (left and right) and a scroll wheel (which can also function as a button when pressed inwards) A typical wireless computer mouseĪ computer mouse (plural mice, also mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface.

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