6 ms·

This reminds me of another great article. http://www.learningclojure.com/2010/09/graphics-like-its-1979-how-to-get.html http://www.learningclojure.com/2010/09/

This reminds me of another great article. http://www.learningclojure.com/2010/09/graphics-like-its-1979-how-to-get.html http://www.learningclojure.com/2010/09/graphics-like-its-197... The author talks about how its harder to get graphics on the screen without installing prerequisite software than it used to be, and goes on to sing the praises of the ZX Spectrum and its concise and well written manual. He finishes the article with some fun coding experiments writing Clojure code in the spirit of the ZX.

tyingq 9y ago
Xterm has tektronix mode which is somewhat similar. Try: xterm -t -e 'curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joejulian/xterm/master/tektests/usmap.tek ; sleep 10'
- pmarreck 9y ago
  oh wow, that's pretty cool
forinti 9y ago
If you are not too picky, there's always JavaScript and Canvas.
- Piskvorrr 9y ago
  That's "without prerequisites" nowadays? Interesting. In my world, this requires installing one of the most complex pieces of software in existence (a web browser, plus its dependencies), on top of a graphical OS (also a highly complex network of interdependencies).
  - Something1234 9y ago
    Yeah, but installing a browser is easy, compared to setting up depends for other environments.
  - owl57 9y ago
    There's the same implied prerequisite as with BASIC: you need a personal computer. I mean, you seem to know how to uninstall the browser from your laptop, but is not doing that a meaningful prerequisite?
  - Turing_Machine 9y ago
    > In my world, this requires installing one of the most complex pieces of software in existence (a web browser, plus its dependencies), on top of a graphical OS (also a highly complex network of interdependencies). In most people's world (where "most" is probably > 95%), their computer comes with those things already installed.
    - Piskvorrr 9y ago
      Complex architectural stacks have costs beyond install in most people's world: how many layers of indirection between <canvas> and actually drawing on the screen? That's a lot of cycles spent doing busywork.
- n-gauge 9y ago
  or just straight DOM: javascript:for(i=4051;i--;)document.write(i%~80?'&#'+(9585+new Date%i%2):'<p style=margin:-.5em>')
swiley 9y ago
Xlib is trivially easy to use if you're willing to use C. Slightly harder (but also satisfying if you have serious NIH) is the /dev/fb interface. And there's sixel if you're using a terminal like mlterm.
- underwoodley 9y ago
  Funny, I've often heard X programming described as 'not trivially easy'.
  - swiley 9y ago
    Maybe doing widgets is hard? If you just want to draw shapes on the screen there honestly isn't an easier way to do it.
cicero 9y ago
I'm teaching 11-year old boys to do graphics in Python using the turtle module. It's pretty easy.

tyingq 9y ago

Xterm has tektronix mode which is somewhat similar. Try: xterm -t -e 'curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joejulian/xterm/master/tektests/usmap.tek ; sleep 10'

pmarreck 9y ago
oh wow, that's pretty cool

forinti 9y ago

If you are not too picky, there's always JavaScript and Canvas.

Piskvorrr 9y ago
That's "without prerequisites" nowadays? Interesting. In my world, this requires installing one of the most complex pieces of software in existence (a web browser, plus its dependencies), on top of a graphical OS (also a highly complex network of interdependencies).
- Something1234 9y ago
  Yeah, but installing a browser is easy, compared to setting up depends for other environments.
- owl57 9y ago
  There's the same implied prerequisite as with BASIC: you need a personal computer. I mean, you seem to know how to uninstall the browser from your laptop, but is not doing that a meaningful prerequisite?
- Turing_Machine 9y ago
  > In my world, this requires installing one of the most complex pieces of software in existence (a web browser, plus its dependencies), on top of a graphical OS (also a highly complex network of interdependencies). In most people's world (where "most" is probably > 95%), their computer comes with those things already installed.
  - Piskvorrr 9y ago
    Complex architectural stacks have costs beyond install in most people's world: how many layers of indirection between <canvas> and actually drawing on the screen? That's a lot of cycles spent doing busywork.
n-gauge 9y ago
or just straight DOM: javascript:for(i=4051;i--;)document.write(i%~80?'&#'+(9585+new Date%i%2):'<p style=margin:-.5em>')

swiley 9y ago

Xlib is trivially easy to use if you're willing to use C. Slightly harder (but also satisfying if you have serious NIH) is the /dev/fb interface. And there's sixel if you're using a terminal like mlterm.

underwoodley 9y ago
Funny, I've often heard X programming described as 'not trivially easy'.
- swiley 9y ago
  Maybe doing widgets is hard? If you just want to draw shapes on the screen there honestly isn't an easier way to do it.

cicero 9y ago

I'm teaching 11-year old boys to do graphics in Python using the turtle module. It's pretty easy.