3 ms·

I think that a lot of us on HN would not even try to write a word processor, as we know how difficult it is, and that the barrier to entry is high. This shows

by sharms 13y ago

I think that a lot of us on HN would not even try to write a word processor, as we know how difficult it is, and that the barrier to entry is high. This shows that it is possible to make a minimum viable product with one person with persistence and skill. Thank you for sharing!

abbyroad9191 13y ago
Yeah cheers to that guy who built the office suite. Why is there so much negative feedback towards said hacker?
- yareally 13y ago
  I couldn't agree more. While it may not be a "show hn" project, the developer may still be a member of the hn community. If one is going to criticise the project, they should at least do so constructively so they can improve it. I don't think any of us would really want snarky remarks as the feedback to something we poured our free time in and shared with the community to garner feedback. Treat other developers in the same way we would want to be treated if in a similar position :)
qwerta 13y ago
Writing word processor is simple with proper components. Not everything is written in JS.
ap22213 13y ago
I guess it depends on the scope. We had to write a minimalistic word processor in a 4th-year CS class at my low-mid-tier university.
rossjudson 13y ago
Swing contains a fairly sophisticated rich text editor component that can easily server as the basis for a word processor for many cases. It has nice style support. I did a neat little screenplay-writing program with it one weekend...I simply created styles that matched to common screenplay formats (like dialog, scene descriptions, etc), assigned hotkeys to the styles, then wrote a little smart method to figure out the next probable style when you hit the return key.
- eropple 13y ago
  > It has nice style support. Aside from the normal terror of using Swing, I agree with this--with one caveat. As JetBrains has learned, Swing's text editing controls and modern Linux look, regardless of style, like crap. Less of a big deal for a word processor, but a pretty big deal for them. :(
  - markbernard 13y ago
    I have never had a problem getting Swing to do what I want it to. People who bash usually haven't tried to actually learn it.

by sharms 13y ago

abbyroad9191 13y ago

Yeah cheers to that guy who built the office suite. Why is there so much negative feedback towards said hacker?

yareally 13y ago
I couldn't agree more. While it may not be a "show hn" project, the developer may still be a member of the hn community. If one is going to criticise the project, they should at least do so constructively so they can improve it. I don't think any of us would really want snarky remarks as the feedback to something we poured our free time in and shared with the community to garner feedback. Treat other developers in the same way we would want to be treated if in a similar position :)

qwerta 13y ago

Writing word processor is simple with proper components. Not everything is written in JS.

ap22213 13y ago

I guess it depends on the scope. We had to write a minimalistic word processor in a 4th-year CS class at my low-mid-tier university.

rossjudson 13y ago

Swing contains a fairly sophisticated rich text editor component that can easily server as the basis for a word processor for many cases. It has nice style support. I did a neat little screenplay-writing program with it one weekend...I simply created styles that matched to common screenplay formats (like dialog, scene descriptions, etc), assigned hotkeys to the styles, then wrote a little smart method to figure out the next probable style when you hit the return key.

eropple 13y ago
> It has nice style support. Aside from the normal terror of using Swing, I agree with this--with one caveat. As JetBrains has learned, Swing's text editing controls and modern Linux look, regardless of style, like crap. Less of a big deal for a word processor, but a pretty big deal for them. :(
- markbernard 13y ago
  I have never had a problem getting Swing to do what I want it to. People who bash usually haven't tried to actually learn it.