4 ms·

Right now, each piece of paper in Dymanicland is a program. You put a piece of paper down and it "runs" - the metaphor breaks down at this point though. With a

by jf 9y ago

Right now, each piece of paper in Dymanicland is a program. You put a piece of paper down and it "runs" - the metaphor breaks down at this point though. With a little bit of code, anything in Dynamicland can become "alive" and interactive. For me, the impressive part of Dymanicland is how physical everything is. Want to see how something works? Find the paper that the code is printed on. Need help understanding some code? Bring somebody over to the wall, table, or couch where the code is. You can annotate the paper, draw diagrams on it, cut it, fold it, tear it, put it in a book to help others learn how it works. Want to edit some code? Point an "editor" token at the paper program you want to modify, then start changing the code. Dynamicland isn't a room with a computer, it's a room that is a computer.

lfowles 9y ago
I'm looking for more details as well, the idea fascinates me. Each program looks to be a code printout, so I'm not quite grasping how changing code works with just an "editor token".
- mquander 9y ago
  The printed code is sort of just a documentation -- the system isn't, for example, scanning it visually to decide what to execute. Rather, each card encodes a unique ID, and the running code lives on the network at that ID, so you can point your editor at the card, read the ID, and see and edit the code at that ID. The printout is just the code that was at the ID at the time of printing.
  - westoncb 9y ago
    Would be cool if they projected the code onto the card rather than printing it—that way it doesn't get stale, and more re-use.
  - lfowles 9y ago
    Ah OK, I had to scan the page a few times to realize it wasn't a visually interpreted form of Scratch.
- jf 9y ago
  The "editor token" is also a program that Realtalk recognizes. It's just a small program that says "I am an editor named X" - you then point the token at the code you want to edit and then use a text editor to make those changes. I've seen people use laptops, iPads, and other Realtalk programs to make the edits. The important thing to keep in mind is that everything in Dynamicland is, well, dynamic. Right now, editor tokens are just normal Realktalk programs printed on paper, but in the future the might be a different physical object. Right now you edit the coded using a text editor, but in the future you might use a pen to write code directly on paper, or perhaps you'd re-arrange physical objects that represented blocks of code, etc ...
- mendeza 9y ago
  I think the color dots are some hash/key to a program. Whenever the camera sees the code in its FOV, the system executes the program. Also, the color code seems to serve as location tracking as well, so the program is projected on the physical paper.
mcphage 9y ago
> Want to see how something works? Find the paper that the code is printed on. > Want to edit some code? Point an "editor" token at the paper program you want to modify, then start changing the code. If you edit a paper program, then won't the source on the paper be obsolete? Will that be indicated somehow? If I'm looking to see what a piece does, how can I tell if the source code on it can be trusted?
- jf 9y ago
  > If you edit a paper program, then won't the source on the paper be obsolete? Will that be indicated somehow? When a program is changed, Realtalk will print a red line over the lines that have been modified or removed. It looks a lot like the output that you'll see from a "git diff" on a file.
  - mcphage 9y ago
    > Realtalk will print a red line You mean like, from the projector?
    - jf 9y ago
      Yes, sorry. It will project a red line on the paper.
      - mcphage 9y ago
        That's good, then. Having the code right there isn't very good if you can't trust it, but if it at least indicates what's not to be trusted, that's much better.
    - infinite8s 9y ago
      The projector is just a means of getting dynamic media. You could imagine future technologies involving e-ink paper that's as cheap as wood-pulp paper. What if we had e-ink embedded in paint? What if all physical objects could be embedded with computability?
  - 9y ago
jpm_sd 9y ago
But... when does it run? How do you trigger it? How do you step through it with a debugger? How does one program call another program? This seems like a lousy metaphor.

by jf 9y ago

lfowles 9y ago

I'm looking for more details as well, the idea fascinates me. Each program looks to be a code printout, so I'm not quite grasping how changing code works with just an "editor token".

mquander 9y ago
The printed code is sort of just a documentation -- the system isn't, for example, scanning it visually to decide what to execute. Rather, each card encodes a unique ID, and the running code lives on the network at that ID, so you can point your editor at the card, read the ID, and see and edit the code at that ID. The printout is just the code that was at the ID at the time of printing.
- westoncb 9y ago
  Would be cool if they projected the code onto the card rather than printing it—that way it doesn't get stale, and more re-use.
- lfowles 9y ago
  Ah OK, I had to scan the page a few times to realize it wasn't a visually interpreted form of Scratch.
jf 9y ago
The "editor token" is also a program that Realtalk recognizes. It's just a small program that says "I am an editor named X" - you then point the token at the code you want to edit and then use a text editor to make those changes. I've seen people use laptops, iPads, and other Realtalk programs to make the edits. The important thing to keep in mind is that everything in Dynamicland is, well, dynamic. Right now, editor tokens are just normal Realktalk programs printed on paper, but in the future the might be a different physical object. Right now you edit the coded using a text editor, but in the future you might use a pen to write code directly on paper, or perhaps you'd re-arrange physical objects that represented blocks of code, etc ...
mendeza 9y ago
I think the color dots are some hash/key to a program. Whenever the camera sees the code in its FOV, the system executes the program. Also, the color code seems to serve as location tracking as well, so the program is projected on the physical paper.

mcphage 9y ago

> Want to see how something works? Find the paper that the code is printed on. > Want to edit some code? Point an "editor" token at the paper program you want to modify, then start changing the code. If you edit a paper program, then won't the source on the paper be obsolete? Will that be indicated somehow? If I'm looking to see what a piece does, how can I tell if the source code on it can be trusted?

jf 9y ago
> If you edit a paper program, then won't the source on the paper be obsolete? Will that be indicated somehow? When a program is changed, Realtalk will print a red line over the lines that have been modified or removed. It looks a lot like the output that you'll see from a "git diff" on a file.
- mcphage 9y ago
  > Realtalk will print a red line You mean like, from the projector?
  - jf 9y ago
    Yes, sorry. It will project a red line on the paper.
    - mcphage 9y ago
      That's good, then. Having the code right there isn't very good if you can't trust it, but if it at least indicates what's not to be trusted, that's much better.
  - infinite8s 9y ago
    The projector is just a means of getting dynamic media. You could imagine future technologies involving e-ink paper that's as cheap as wood-pulp paper. What if we had e-ink embedded in paint? What if all physical objects could be embedded with computability?
- 9y ago

jpm_sd 9y ago

But... when does it run? How do you trigger it? How do you step through it with a debugger? How does one program call another program? This seems like a lousy metaphor.