FAQ
What is this?
This is HiConsole, a single-webpage user interface.
Hi like Hi Hello, Console like System Console.
HiConsole helps its user write & publish programs that run in any JavaScript-enabled browser. |
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It is,
- A webpage that acts like a simple home computer, using the power of your browser to provide input, output, graphics, ROM-like preprogrammed instructions, even printing.
- An interface to the JavaScript virtual machine inside a browser window.
- An interface to Lorenzo Church's clever and economical LISP.
- An interface to Raphaël, for fast 2D graphics on all the major web browsers.
- An altogether casual programming/play environment, to reinstall the fun of older computers like the Apple II, Sinclair Spectrum, Amiga, etc. on a powerful modern machine.
Sounds pretty sweet. Back to the homepage to try it.
Why “HiConsole”?
"Hi" because we try to humanize the machine by expanding its range of senses and responses. "Console" references the original computer console, and the epics of console gaming. These two streams of mythology are nostalgically powerful.
Because it's easier to remember than "Flusnx".
Why so High-Level?
Why a High Level for beginners when low level is so much faster? ... It's a philosophy, or rather an observation of the progress of software development. When a computer cost a million dollars, you couldn't afford to waste a minute of its time on being nice to the user.
When a powerful laptop is $400, instead of talking to it with low-level requests like ADD and ASR, we can address it from a high level, as if we were talking to a very smart, odd friend over Instant Messenger.
A high-level view can be useful through words and pictures in concert. This is why people like emoticons, sparklines, graphs, and cartoons.
In JavaScript, we're nowhere near the real machine, but we have access to a strong and (more or less) simple collection of memory and processes known as the browser window.
How does it work?
The ultimate cross-platform virtual machine is JavaScript. With Raphaël, graphics are cross-platform too. HiConsole combines them to create the appearance of a friendly graphics-capable computer, which crosses over JavaScript's native C-like syntax with a simple LISP interpreter.
This piecemeal, powerful, pretend computer makes it easy to tinker productively with JavaScript and LISP, create cross-browser graphics, and write simple web programs that run on your own web pages. See the demos for examples.
What's it good for?
What is the goal?
To make it quick & easy to create graphical programs which run anywhere, even places where Flash and Silverlight can't go for whatever reason.
Modern programmers have it all, but unless you have a compiler, or a web server, or a virtual machine, you're not programming - you're just using an interface.
HiConsole lets casual users in on the fun. It's a vision of a machine that wants to help and empower its user, like a sharp smart sword.
What is the spinning "Raphael" in the Graphics window?
That's Raphaël's test pattern. Type "r clear" to clear the screen:
r clear
Why is it so slow?
You may be using an old browser, update to the most recent version you can.
Is it Internet Explorer 6 compatible?
Yes. Plugins are not required. In IE6, VML is built-in.
"SSC"?
Solid State Cookie. The icon was inspired by the OS X Disk icon, which is quaintly mechanical. Since the disk is virtual, and pixels are free, why not go solid-state?
The Cookie Disks are established when you first run HiConsole. You can copy and paste text into and out of them. You can create new disks with JavaScript (see the Help file), and new files by adding "~--~newfilename~~" to the end of a file.
Cookie storage is not yet fully implemented. Many buttons don't work yet!
It's acting funny.
Hit reload to start over. Note: you can paste more than one command line into the green input box at once, the system will evaluate your statements in order, like a card stack.
Build up a working program (or command chain) by testing commands. Copy working commands into the Cookie Disks, or just use an empty notepad or email window.
Where did this come from?
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