[Gambas-user] [GambasMag] Articles for Feb 2015 issue

Mon Nov 24 15:33:10 CET 2014

Hi Tobi,

I have had some health issues and so I haven't been able to put much time
into the magazine. I have also moved 1600 miles from where I was and that
with the health issues delayed any work on the magazine. With my health
right now I have a few good days and many not so good days. But I would
love to publish your articles. The magazine's next issue will not follow
the outline for issues as I just don't have the energy to produce all I had
hoped for. I haven't even been coding at all in the past couple months.
Once my treatment is over I hope I can get back to following the outline
and publishing the magazine. At the moment is you write articles I will
publish a mini-issue with your article and two on game development I had
sent to me.

I have high hopes for Gambas Magazine but at the moment I simply can't put
in all the time it requires due to health issues.

Thank you for all your help.

Randall

On Sat, Nov 22, 2014 at 2:59 PM, Tobias Boege <taboege at ...626...> wrote:

> Hi Randall,
>
> since the Oct 2014 issue had problems and I don't see anything for the Dec
> issue, I want to let you know that I'm in my element with Feb 2015. I have
> three articles in mind which I'm eager for submitting:
>
>   1. Graphs in Gambas. I will explain _in detail_ the objectives behind the
>      design of gb.data's Graph interface (the ability to _interpret_
> existing
>      data as a graph while saving memory) and show two sample graph
> classes.
>
>      One will be a solver for certain systems of linear inequalities using
>      the Bellman-Ford algorithm, for the more theoretic audience. The
> second
>      is a little more "salonfaehig"[*]: a flood fill using breadth-first-
>      search over a graph implicitely defined by the pixels of a picture.
>      [ The latter I have actually already sent to the mailing list, so
> maybe
>        I do something different. But it will surely be implicitely defining
>        a graph via properties of an already existing object and using graph
>        algorithms to solve the original problem. ]
>
>      Also I intend to write a small GraphViz class which can export graphs
>      as PNG images via graphviz' "dot" utility. I'll see if this fits in...
>
> [*] A German word I can't find a suitable translation for. It means to be
>     appropriate/decent in the particular society's context/etiquette. Here
>     it simply means: not so theoretic, more appealing for those hands-on
>     people (because you actually see something).
>
>   2. Boolean expression parser. Some years ago I have developed a simple
>      boolean expression parser in C which understands up to 26 variables
> and
>      the boolean functions not, and, or, equivalence and implication. It
>      will print out the given expression and its truth values in all
>      possible configurations for the variables. [ It solved all of these
>      boring "write down the truth table for this expression" assignments
> for
>      me in the first semester :-) ]
>
>      I will use the Shunting-yard algorithm to parse the input and then a
>      queue-based RPN evaluator to get the truth value. So we have Stack and
>      Queue as the central characters here. We will also face the need to
>      extend the Queue class -- a very cool technique in Gambas which too
> few
>      people seem to be aware of.
>
>   3. Graphical Gnuplot control. Another question which I saw popping up
>      frequently lately is that people want to write their own graphical
>      controls to put on their forms.
>
>      In this article I will do just that: write a GnuplotArea control which
>      you can give a function to let gnuplot plot onto your form. It will
>      support some style options which gnuplot offers. The gnuplot / data
>      visualisation part is why it is relevant to the Feb 2015 issue. The
>      beginning of this thing goes back to a thread from, I think, Bruce on
>      the mailing list. The outcome of this article will be a standalone
>      (modulo gnuplot), reusable control.
>
>      [ Maybe I will throw a class in there for interpolating functions
>        using Lagrange's method if I find that the GUI is not already too
>        crammed. ]
>
>      By-product insights of this article are: how to write a custom control
>      and integrate it with the IDE; and how to talk properly to an external
>      process (including error management).
>
> [ With (quite!) some luck I'll have trees by that time in gb.data for your
>   evolutionary algorithms... but don't count on that. ]
>
> As you see, those three will loosely fit into the agenda for Feb 2015.
> While
> we are at it, looking at the current article depression, maybe it would be
> better if the magazine schedules new issues for every half a year instead
> of
> quarters?
>
> Most work of writing the articles will just be recapitulating things I have
> already done, so I'm pretty confident that I can make all three until Feb.
> But I can't promise to make it until the deadline which appears to be
> already
> towards the end of December! I promise to make articles then which won't
> require review ;-)
>
> Regards,
> Tobi
>
> PS: I will send a copy of this to the mailing list in an effort to install
>     some moral pressure there to write articles. If you want, you can also
>     read that as "... in an effort to inspire others ..." :-)
>
> --
> "There's an old saying: Don't change anything... ever!" -- Mr. Monk
>
>
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