________________________________
From: Jim mack <j...@less2do.com>
To: factor-talk@lists.sourceforge.net
Sent: Wed, February 3, 2010 10:02:50 PM
Subject: Re: [Factor-talk] slide-rule
> I am just getting started in Factor, and am partially drawn to the ability to
> do cross platform GUI development, but I thought I should mention a cool
> ability to ship a self-contained HTTP server using their easy to use furnace
> library. It could launch a browser to itself on startup and produce the
> output format file locally. If you already do web programming it shouldn't
> be much of a learning curve.
I have never done any GUI programming or web programming, so either approach
would represent new ground for me. I am somewhat dubious of the idea of a
browser/server, as there is a lot of data to work with. I could be wrong,
considering that I've never done this, but my understanding of the
browser/server idea is that the program running on the browser is dealing with
a very small amount of data such as the fields in a data-entry form.
Perhaps it would help if I explained how my slide-rule program works: It is a
three-stage process:
1.) I have words such as D-scale, A-scale, etc., that each generate a
linked-list representing the scale. Each node is a MARK:
list
w field .kind \ the kind of mark this is (TNY, SML, MID,
BIG or XTR)
f field .n \ the numeric value of the mark
(corresponds to .LABEL)
f field .dist \ derived from N and measured in Lunits
(distance from left edge)
w field .orientation \ the direction of the label in relation to the
mark
w field .label \ the hstr of the label if there is a label
constant mark
\ If .ORIENTATION is N/A, then there is no label and .LABEL is irrelevant.
\ The DIST value is nominally in the range [0,1], although it might extend over
the edge slightly.
2.) I convert these MARK lists into SHAPE lists. These contain absolute
coordinates (in inches) of all the marks and labels on a particular face of the
slide-rule. Each node is a SHAPE:
list
p field .src
p field .dst
w field .siz
w field .txt
constant shape \ a text string or a line segment
\ The P fields are .X and .Y pairs.
\ If the .SIZ field is a KIND (TNY, SML, MID, BIG or XTR), then the shape is a
text string.
\ The .SRC field is the lower-left corner and the .DST field is not used.
\ If the .SIZ field is N/A, then the shape is a line segment.
\ The .SRC and .DST fields are the endpoints.
3.) I convert the SHAPE lists into gcode. All the information in each SHAPE
node gets etched with G01 commands, and I also pick up the tool and move it
with a G00 command from each element to the next.
The Factor program would be the same as the Forth except that I will use
sequences rather than linked lists, as linked lists are apparently not
idiomatic in Factor. The GUI would allow the user to drag-and-drop the scales
into place to construct the slide-rule, and would also allow the user to
simulate the use of the slide-rule by moving the slide and the cursor to and
fro on the constructed slide-rule. There would have to be an alternative #3
step above that generates some kind of graphical image rather than gcode.
Does Factor have the ability to display SVG on the screen? Or would I need to
generate some other kind of graphical image? If Factor has support for
displaying graphical images (of any kind) on the screen, then I think the whole
thing would be best written in Factor as a GUI program. If Factor can't do
this, then it might be better to have the Factor program generate SVG on the
server side, and then write a JavaScript program to run in a browser and
display the SVG images.
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