Organizing 2016
with Forth

January 23, 2016

Brad Nelson / @flagxor

Systems of Organization

• Calendar
• Diary
• Ledger
• Encyclopedia
• Commonplace Book

Tickler File

• 43 sections
  • 12 months
  • 31 days

Franklin Planner

• Daily Page
  • Hourly appointment schedule
  • Prioritized daily task list
  • Daily notes
• Monthly calendars

Commonplace Book

• Fragments of text, often borrowed
• Indexing scheme
  • Locke's Letter-Volume scheme

Locke's Index

Locke's Index

Locke's Index

Astronomy → Aa

Geology → Ge

Stars → Sa

Quasars → Qu [Zu]

Task Lists

• Simple TODO
• Urgent / Important (Eisenhower)

Gantt Chart

• Bar chart of project schedule
• Show dependencies
• Find critical path

Gantt Chart

Iambically

• Make entering notes quick
• Desktop, laptop, phone
• A quick sketch
• Use Forth to remind, search, summarize, plan

Iambically

• Web App + Install to Home Screen
• Cache local state for offline
• Sync to a shared database

Iambically

• Client [JavaScript + Forth]
• Server [Go (AppEngine)]

Server Storage

• AppEngine Datastore
• Entities
  • Lookup by Key
  • Lookup by Index

Structure of an Entry (server)

• Committed Timestamp
• Blob of content bytes
  • Modified Timestamp
  • Optional Image (base64)
  • Plaintext

Client Storage

• IndexedDB
• Entities
  • Lookup by Key
  • Lookup by Index

Structure of an Entry (client)

• Committed Timestamp
• Modified Timestamp
• Optional Image (base64)
• Plaintext
• Server Key
• Local Key
• Pending Flag

Synchronization

• Writes
  • Upload pending items
  • Include server key if any
  • Store server key if new
  • Unmark
• Reads
  • Find newest local item
  • Fetch server items new than that
  • Assign local key

Drawing

• Mimic Pastels
• Blending, smearing, mixing
• Use the touch screen
• Provide a handful of "brushes"

Color Mixing

• RGB
• HSV
• Kubelka-Munk (1931)
• FiftyThree's Paper

Additive Color

Subtractive Color

Primary Colors of Paint

RGB/CYMK Mixing

RGB/CYMK Mixing

RGB/CYMK Mixing

RYB → RGB

R = 1 - b/2

G = (1 - r/2) * (1 - b/4)

B = (1 - r/2) * (1 - y)

RYBK → RGB

R = (1 - k) * (1 - b/2)

G = (1 - k) * (1 - r/2) * (1 - b/4)

B = (1 - k) * (1 - r/2) * (1 - y)

PromiseForth

• Use JavaScript Promises implement interpreter
• Expose JavaScript types
• Expose words idiomatic to JavaScript
• Scan entries for escaped code
• ColorForth like marked words
• Order doesn't matter
• Run words with "special" prefixes over all the data

PromiseForth

• foo: → defining word
• foo → compiled word
• 'foo → compile xt of word
• "foo bar baz" → string
• js"foo bar baz" → inline JavaScript
• unknown → inline JavaScript value

PromiseForth

• [cond] [xt] if
• [times] [xt] repeat

PromiseForth

• +: js"var x = dstack.pop(); var y = dstack.pop(); dstack.push(y + x);"
• 2dup: over over
• pow2: 1 over '2* repeat

JavaScript Promises

• Promise to do something asynchronously
• Chain dependent events
• Looks more like blocking code

Create a Promise

new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
  var foo = new Operation();
  foo.onsuccess = function() {
    resolve(result);
  };
  foo.onerror = function() {
    reject(error);
  };
});
          

Using Promises

return promise1.then(function(result) {
  // do something on success
}).catch(function(error) {
  // do something on error
});
          

Chaining Promises

return promise1.then(function() {
  // do something then promise a result
}).then(function(result1) {
  // do something then promise a result
}).then(function(result2) {
  // do something then promise a result
}).then(function(result3) {
  // do more
}).catch(function(error) {
  // handle error
});
          

Sweeping

• Gather information from entries
• Summarize with alerts
• Select search results

Prefixes

• start-* → Run before sweep
• each-* → Run per entry
• finish-* → Run after sweep

Inputs

• query
• content
• modify date
• images

Outputs

• alerts
• entries

Status

• Distributed Entry
• Pastels
• Basic PromiseForth
• Offline Use

TODO

• Offline Load
• Better handling of dates
• Interesting reports
• Notifications
• Encryption?
• Scale?
• Use and iterate

Source and slides at:
github.com/flagxor

Thank you