<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
Clearly all of the software and experience of the last 50 years is
similarly of no value. Vive iPhone, the computer of the ages ;)<br>
<br>
I am impressed by the focus on programming techniques for the
'wrapper' - be it python, javascript, java, C, Fortran. This is a
very difficult technical application. The goals of this project: to
provide a font editor for Sugar which can be used to introduce
learners to type style and the traditions and conventions of
typesetters is ambitious. <br>
<br>
The argument for javascript is that an application can be developed
that will be usable on both Sugarizer (Android) and Sugar. <br>
<br>
I really doubt that 1% of the code would change moving from a
Sugarizer environment to a freestanding web application.<br>
<br>
Tony<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 04/25/2016 10:40 AM, Dave Crossland
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAEozd0zSVab=6oTOB+kpja5yzkJyL8cxdAQ8D5hFFDBj4HbjFA@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div><br>
</div>
Hi!<br>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On 21 April 2016 at 19:40, Mredul
Sarda <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:mredul.sarda@gmail.com" target="_blank">mredul.sarda@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<p style="font-size:12.8px"><span
style="font-size:12.8px"> am a student from a
university in India applied for GSoC 2016. I have
applied for Font Editor Activity under mentor Dave.</span></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>Thanks again for your proposal - I'm sorry it was not
selected. </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<p style="font-size:12.8px"><span
style="font-size:12.8px">I have started working
around with the sugar activities. Just to mention
that I found working with sugarizer more easier, I
would prefer working on this web based activity if
given a choice. However, Sugar Activities are more
widespread among the education community so it might
be a better option to start with. It would be great
to have some opinions from the core Sugar Community
about how do they look into the future of this
activity. It is important that we are clear about
our choices before starting.</span></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>For me personally, I am not too biased towards python
or javascript... I must admit that prefer writing python
programs and using javascript ones ;) <br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div class="gmail_extra">Well, for this project, it is
simple: The coding mentor for the project, Eli, is more
interested in Python, so I suggest that the Font Editor
activity be written in Python. </div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_extra">But generally, I think that to
decide if a new Activity should be in python or js, it
is wise to the end users must be kept in mind. It seem
that the majority of Sugar users are using the XO
laptop, and today there are very few users of Sugarizer
(although no one really knows how many there are, but it
surely can not be over 10,000, whereas it seems to me
personally likely that there are still 10,000 active
Sugar users.) </div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_extra">Mobile is going up up up right
now, and at the moment, the Sugar community has
developed Sugarizer as a way to bring Sugar Activity
designs to any child who wants to learn with them... But
it still in a relatively early stage. So it is probably
best to write a standalone web application for kids,
that can be packaged for Android, iOS and Sugar; Jamie's
decision to do this seems instructive. </div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_extra">Even for the world's
children, per <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2014/10/28/presentation-mobile-is-eating-the-world"
target="_blank">http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2014/10/28/presentation-mobile-is-eating-the-world</a>,
"mobile is eating the world" and desktops and
laptops are in terminal decline:<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><img
src="cid:part3.02080403.04010905@usa.net" alt="Inline
images 2" height="265" width="482"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">You don't hear this term much
any more, but when I was a boy (I'm 33 now) then the
term for a "desktop" before the 90s "wintel" era was a
"micro-computer." (In fact this is where the company
name "Microsoft" originates from; initially that
company was called "Micro-soft" ;) </div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">This name made sense in the 70s
and 80s because back then, the <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minicomputer"
target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minicomputer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minicomputer</a></a>
was as dominant and professional and serious and
productive as desktop/laptops are today; like the PCs
in the above graph, they ran a curve up from the mid
60s to the mid 70s, and when were at their peak, the
earliest micro-computers were kind of silly - <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_I"
target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_I">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_I</a></a>
is from 76, just look at it :) </div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">But then mini-computers were in
terminal decline, down to the late 90s when less savvy
people spent a lot of money bailing out their failing
dot com start up's crappy software by using their VC
money to buy bigger mini-computers ;) Meanwhile more
savvy people built server farms out of GNU servers on
cheap commodity PC hardware; the reason Google's brand
colors are what they are is because the first server
racks for those cheap PC motherboards were made out of
the similarly colourful lego bricks ;) And now today,
minicomputers are totally gone, I think - although
mainframes persist. Maybe someone here knows of
minicomputers in use today? :D </div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">Anyway. The point is that all
desktops and laptops - from Windows on down - are
going away, and likely much faster than minicomputers
went away. So I don't think it makes much sense to
invest too much in desktop systems, no matter what
language they are written in.</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_extra">About 3 years ago I
helped initiate an 'advanced' font editor
project, that started in Python, and then
after a year of prototyping, was restarted
in JavaScript and worked on by a small
team (<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.metapolator.com">http://www.metapolator.com</a>).
It still isn't really useful, and partly
that's because so little existing font
editor libraries existed in JavaScript, so
the team had to write a lot of
'foundational' parts themselves. We
understood at the time we'd be moving our
starting position back, and today a lot of
the foundational parts needed for a web
based font editor now exist :) At the time
I explained why we chose
JavaScript/web-platform in <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://github.com/metapolator/metapolator/wiki/faq#why-is-metapolator-a-web-tool"
target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://github.com/metapolator/metapolator/wiki/faq#why-is-metapolator-a-web-tool">https://github.com/metapolator/metapolator/wiki/faq#why-is-metapolator-a-web-tool</a></a> </div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">But in learning
about the history of OLPC and Sugar, I
have been quite astonished to learn about
Squeak and EToys. I think it would be
exciting to write a font editor in Squeak,
and it seems Squeak is very capable of
running on any platform - even inside web
browsers. </div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">So, Mredul, since
in a prior private email you said you
won't be able to contribute to the effort
with out the GSOC funding, I do recommend
spending some time learning about Squeak.
I think you'll get a lot of value out of
it :) <br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<p style="font-size:12.8px"><span
style="font-size:12.8px">I was going through TruFont
app to identify the basic features and icons for the
Sugar Activity. I understand that the pencil in
their case itself has the Bezier Curves Algorithm
implemented. However I feel that it should be
separately implemented with another icon to twist
the line drawn using the algorithm. </span></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>Yes, I agree, there should be a tool for adding points,
a tool for moving points, and a tool for removing points. </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<p style="font-size:12.8px">Secondly, I think we should
put up lines or grids, so as to accurately place the
characters and glyphs and better finishing. </p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>I agree, although the guidelines should not be square,
like graph paper, but rather based on horizontal
alignments and on vertical 'cadence.'</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<p style="font-size:12.8px">These are some small level
improvisations possible. I am thinking more on the
lines of Paint Activity with more control over the
position and dimensions of glyphs.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>(Paint is a raster graphics application, whereas fonts
are vectors.) </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<p style="font-size:12.8px"><span
style="font-size:12.8px">I have locally tried to
edit the Paint Sugar Activity according to our
requirements because many of the basic features
remain exactly same. I would like to have inputs
from the Sugar Community on the concerns and
suggestions mentioned above.</span></p>
<p style="font-size:12.8px">Looking forward for your
reply. </p>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div>Me too :) </div>
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div>Cheers<br>
Dave</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<br>
<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
Sugar-devel mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org">Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</body>
</html>