Just two days ago, RunRev announced the release of LiveCode version 6.1 - the first new version to include new functionality contributed by the community. I would call this clear evidence that the KickStarter project is propelling the platform forward.
I'm proud to have worked on two of the community contributions:
- getting the page ranges of a field (complementing the existing page heights feature)
- additional statistical functions (geometricMean, harmonicMean, averageDeviation, populationStandardDeviation, populationVariance and sampleVariance)
Another contribution of mine was too late to the party, but has been accepted and will make its appearance in the next functional release:
- enhanced filter command (allowing you to filter items in addition to lines, match against regular expressions and place the output into a different container)
If you too want to contribute, there's plenty of ways:
- write engine code if you have C++ experience
- enhance the IDE if you have LiveCode experience
- update the documentation with examples
- participate in the discussions on the forums where new features are fleshed out
- and test the developer previews and release candidates
I am looking forward to my next contribution project, and hope to see you there!
Showing posts with label open source. Show all posts
Showing posts with label open source. Show all posts
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Quartam Analytical Data Processing Library 1.0.0 Available
Today, Quartam Software is proud to announce the release of Quartam Analytical Data Processing Library for LiveCode version 1.0.0, as open source under a dual license. Quartam Analytical Data Processing Library for LiveCode helps developers process large data sets by means of filter, map, reduce and aggregate functions.
So what can I do with it?
The Filter-Map-Reduce programming model is a data-processing construct coming from the world of 'functional programming' - and has recently made serious headway into languages such as Java or C#. This triad of higher-order functions combined offer a powerful tool for manipulating sequences of data.
- Filter is the easiest to understand: it simply takes one sequence of data and returns a sequence that is filtered according to a predicate (checking whether a number is odd or even, if a date falls in a certain year, etc.)
- Map is similar to Filter because it takes one sequence of data and returns another sequence, having transformed each item with a conversion function (taking out a particular chunk of interesting data, such as a price column)
- Reduce is the least familiar of the three and has as purpose to traverse one sequence of data and build a result value using each item (calculating the sum, minimum, maximum, or some other simple statistic)
But that triad doesn't cover all use-cases, so we add a fourth concept to the mix.
- Aggregate extends the Reduce concept by lifting its inherent limitation of having no memory of all the data that has passed through it (thus allowing the calculation of more complex statistics which require access to the entire dataset)
Of course you can already do these things manually in LiveCode, especially with the 'repeat for each' construct as a speedy way to iterate over a sequence of data. So why would you need a library? One good reason is to cut down on typing and prevent subtle logic errors ; but far more important is that code becomes easier to understand and maintain as you make abstraction of the iterative process.
How do you mean: open source under a dual license?
Although Quartam Analytical Data Processing Library is a free/open source software (F/OSS) project, giving you a lot of freedom and flexibility as to how you use it in your own projects, this doesn't mean you're free to do anything you want with it: you have to respect the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
You can be released from the requirements of the LGPL license by purchasing a commercial license from Quartam Software.
How can I contribute to the Quartam Analytical Data Processing Library project?
I'm glad you asked - the plan is to build a community around Quartam Analytical Data Processing Library in order to streamline the development of newer versions. If you can help with squashing bugs, researching new features, improving documentation, or any other way, you're more than welcome to join us.
All you need to do is download, sign and email back the Quartam Open Source Contributor Agreement so that your contributions can be incorporated into the project. Quartam Software has the role of project custodian, taking care of versioning and distribution.
So roll up your sleeves, download the first version and get stuck in!
Jan Schenkel.
So what can I do with it?
The Filter-Map-Reduce programming model is a data-processing construct coming from the world of 'functional programming' - and has recently made serious headway into languages such as Java or C#. This triad of higher-order functions combined offer a powerful tool for manipulating sequences of data.
- Filter is the easiest to understand: it simply takes one sequence of data and returns a sequence that is filtered according to a predicate (checking whether a number is odd or even, if a date falls in a certain year, etc.)
- Map is similar to Filter because it takes one sequence of data and returns another sequence, having transformed each item with a conversion function (taking out a particular chunk of interesting data, such as a price column)
- Reduce is the least familiar of the three and has as purpose to traverse one sequence of data and build a result value using each item (calculating the sum, minimum, maximum, or some other simple statistic)
But that triad doesn't cover all use-cases, so we add a fourth concept to the mix.
- Aggregate extends the Reduce concept by lifting its inherent limitation of having no memory of all the data that has passed through it (thus allowing the calculation of more complex statistics which require access to the entire dataset)
Of course you can already do these things manually in LiveCode, especially with the 'repeat for each' construct as a speedy way to iterate over a sequence of data. So why would you need a library? One good reason is to cut down on typing and prevent subtle logic errors ; but far more important is that code becomes easier to understand and maintain as you make abstraction of the iterative process.
How do you mean: open source under a dual license?
Although Quartam Analytical Data Processing Library is a free/open source software (F/OSS) project, giving you a lot of freedom and flexibility as to how you use it in your own projects, this doesn't mean you're free to do anything you want with it: you have to respect the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
You can be released from the requirements of the LGPL license by purchasing a commercial license from Quartam Software.
How can I contribute to the Quartam Analytical Data Processing Library project?
I'm glad you asked - the plan is to build a community around Quartam Analytical Data Processing Library in order to streamline the development of newer versions. If you can help with squashing bugs, researching new features, improving documentation, or any other way, you're more than welcome to join us.
All you need to do is download, sign and email back the Quartam Open Source Contributor Agreement so that your contributions can be incorporated into the project. Quartam Software has the role of project custodian, taking care of versioning and distribution.
So roll up your sleeves, download the first version and get stuck in!
Jan Schenkel.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Quartam PDF Library 1.1.5 Available
This maintenance update to Quartam PDF Library adds long-awaited support for alpha channels in PNG images.
The cross-platform .zip archive can be downloaded at: http://downloads.quartam.com/qrtpdflib_115_xplatform.zip
A web page with LiveCode Server / On-Rev demos is available at: http://quartam.on-rev.com/qrtpdfdemos.irev
Quartam PDF Library for LiveCode - version 1.1 introduced support for transformations, transparency and blendmodes, gradients, clipping, text box fitting, inserting pages, compression, experimental support for including EPS files, as well as support for LiveCode Server and On-Rev. It is released as open source under a dual license (GNU Affero General Public License / Commercial License).
The cross-platform .zip archive can be downloaded at: http://downloads.quartam.com/qrtpdflib_115_xplatform.zip
A web page with LiveCode Server / On-Rev demos is available at: http://quartam.on-rev.com/qrtpdfdemos.irev
Quartam PDF Library for LiveCode - version 1.1 introduced support for transformations, transparency and blendmodes, gradients, clipping, text box fitting, inserting pages, compression, experimental support for including EPS files, as well as support for LiveCode Server and On-Rev. It is released as open source under a dual license (GNU Affero General Public License / Commercial License).
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Quartam PDF Library 1.1.4 Available
This maintenance update to Quartam PDF Library fixes a bug with text line height in tables, and extends the supported text alignments with 'leftJustify', 'centerJustify' and 'rightJustify' for textflows that are more pleasing to the eye.
The cross-platform .zip archive can be downloaded at: http://downloads.quartam.com/qrtpdflib_114_xplatform.zip
A web page with LiveCode Server / On-Rev demos is available at: http://quartam.on-rev.com/qrtpdfdemos.irev
Quartam PDF Library for LiveCode - version 1.1 introduced support for transformations, transparency and blendmodes, gradients, clipping, text box fitting, inserting pages, compression, experimental support for including EPS files, as well as support for LiveCode Server and On-Rev. It is released as open source under a dual license (GNU Affero General Public License / Commercial License).
The cross-platform .zip archive can be downloaded at: http://downloads.quartam.com/qrtpdflib_114_xplatform.zip
A web page with LiveCode Server / On-Rev demos is available at: http://quartam.on-rev.com/qrtpdfdemos.irev
Quartam PDF Library for LiveCode - version 1.1 introduced support for transformations, transparency and blendmodes, gradients, clipping, text box fitting, inserting pages, compression, experimental support for including EPS files, as well as support for LiveCode Server and On-Rev. It is released as open source under a dual license (GNU Affero General Public License / Commercial License).
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Quartam Color Library 1.0.0 Available
Today, Quartam Software is proud to announce the release of Quartam Color Library for LiveCode version 1.0.0, as open source under a dual license. Quartam Color Library for LiveCode helps developers manage color schemes, convert color definitions to and from red-green-blue triplets, and derive brighter or darker colors for an attractive and consistent user interface.
So what can I do with it?
Quartam Color Library makes it easier to apply colors as found in HTML pages, C and Java code, even if they were defined as CSS 3 standard color names, raw hexadecimal values or in HSV, HSB or CMYK. In addition, you can derive brighter or darker colors using several algorithms. Finally, you can store these colors in a central repository using custom names.
Best of all, it is written in 100% LiveCode, no externals needed! And it works for your version and platform: Revolution 2.8.1 through LiveCode 5.0.2 on Desktop (Windows, Mac and Linux), Server (LiveCode Server and On-Rev) and Mobile (iOS and Android)
How do you mean: open source under a dual license?
Although Quartam Color Library is a free/open source software (F/OSS) project, giving you a lot of freedom and flexibility as to how you use it in your own projects, this doesn't mean you're free to do anything you want with it: you have to respect the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
You can be released from the requirements of the LGPL license by purchasing a commercial license from Quartam Software.
How can I contribute to the Quartam Color Library project?
I'm glad you asked - the plan is to build a community around Quartam Color Library in order to streamline the development of newer versions. If you can help with squashing bugs, researching new features, improving documentation, or any other way, you're more than welcome to join us.
All you need to do is download, sign and email back the Quartam Open Source Contributor Agreement so that your contributions can be incorporated into the project. Quartam Software has the role of project custodian, taking care of versioning and distribution.
So roll up your sleeves, download the first version and get stuck in!
Jan Schenkel.
So what can I do with it?
Quartam Color Library makes it easier to apply colors as found in HTML pages, C and Java code, even if they were defined as CSS 3 standard color names, raw hexadecimal values or in HSV, HSB or CMYK. In addition, you can derive brighter or darker colors using several algorithms. Finally, you can store these colors in a central repository using custom names.
Best of all, it is written in 100% LiveCode, no externals needed! And it works for your version and platform: Revolution 2.8.1 through LiveCode 5.0.2 on Desktop (Windows, Mac and Linux), Server (LiveCode Server and On-Rev) and Mobile (iOS and Android)
How do you mean: open source under a dual license?
Although Quartam Color Library is a free/open source software (F/OSS) project, giving you a lot of freedom and flexibility as to how you use it in your own projects, this doesn't mean you're free to do anything you want with it: you have to respect the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
You can be released from the requirements of the LGPL license by purchasing a commercial license from Quartam Software.
How can I contribute to the Quartam Color Library project?
I'm glad you asked - the plan is to build a community around Quartam Color Library in order to streamline the development of newer versions. If you can help with squashing bugs, researching new features, improving documentation, or any other way, you're more than welcome to join us.
All you need to do is download, sign and email back the Quartam Open Source Contributor Agreement so that your contributions can be incorporated into the project. Quartam Software has the role of project custodian, taking care of versioning and distribution.
So roll up your sleeves, download the first version and get stuck in!
Jan Schenkel.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Quartam PDF Library 1.1.3 Available
This maintenance update to Quartam PDF Library fixes a bug with multiple images in a single PDF document.
The cross-platform .zip archive can be downloaded at: http://downloads.quartam.com/qrtpdflib_113_xplatform.zip
A web page with LiveCode Server / On-Rev demos is available at: http://quartam.on-rev.com/qrtpdfdemos.irev
Quartam PDF Library for LiveCode - version 1.1 introduced support for transformations, transparency and blendmodes, gradients, clipping, text box fitting, inserting pages, compression, experimental support for including EPS files, as well as support for LiveCode Server and On-Rev. It is released as open source under a dual license (GNU Affero General Public License / Commercial License).
The cross-platform .zip archive can be downloaded at: http://downloads.quartam.com/qrtpdflib_113_xplatform.zip
A web page with LiveCode Server / On-Rev demos is available at: http://quartam.on-rev.com/qrtpdfdemos.irev
Quartam PDF Library for LiveCode - version 1.1 introduced support for transformations, transparency and blendmodes, gradients, clipping, text box fitting, inserting pages, compression, experimental support for including EPS files, as well as support for LiveCode Server and On-Rev. It is released as open source under a dual license (GNU Affero General Public License / Commercial License).
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Quartam PDF Library goes open source
Today, Quartam Software is proud to announce the release of Quartam PDF Library for LiveCode version 1.1, as open source under a dual license. Quartam PDF Library allows LiveCode developers to go beyond 'print to pdf file' as it offers pin-point control, extensive graphics support and much more.
Where does Quartam PDF Library come from?
Back in December 2005, I started Quartam PDF Library as a research project for adding PDF export to Quartam Reports. It was spun off as a separate commercial product and used in a wide variety of LiveCode-based projects, such as BlueMango's ScreenSteps.
Although I had kept working on new features, more pressing matters (like my day-job) kept me from pushing ahead and wrapping up a new release. The advent of 'print to pdf' features in LiveCode 4.5 triggered a soul search and eventually led to the decision to release the new version as open source.
The end result: nearly 7300 lines of production quality code, ready for you to use in your LiveCode projects.
So what is new in version 1.1?
The code got a good cleanup, complies with the rules of variable checking, and replaces most string literals with constants to prevent bugs.
Plus, the following features were added:
- Transformations (scale, translate, rotate, skew, mirror)
- Transparency and blendmodes
- Gradients
- Clipping
- Text box fitting
- Inserting pages (ideal for building a table of contents with bookmarks)
- Compression
- Experimental support for including EPS files (Emulated PostScript)
And for the first time, we offer support for generating PDF documents in LiveCode Server scripts, including On-Rev!
Quartam PDF Library now requires Revolution 3.0 or later, with LiveCode 4.6 highly recommended.
How do you mean: open source under a dual license?
Although Quartam PDF Library is a free/open source software (F/OSS) project, giving you a lot of freedom and flexibility as to how you use it in your own projects, this doesn't mean you're free to do anything you want with it: you have to respect the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).
You can be released from the requirements of the AGPL license by purchasing a commercial license from Quartam Software.
Buying such a license is mandatory as soon as you develop commercial activities involving Quartam PDF Library without disclosing the source code of your own applications. These activities include: offering paid services to customers as an ASP, serving PDF documents generated dynamically in a web application, shipping Quartam PDF Library with a closed source product.
Such a commercial license releases you from the requirements of the copyleft AGPL license, which include: distribution of all source code, including your own product; licensing of your own product under the AGPL license; prominent mention of the Quartam copyright and the AGPL license; and disclosure of modifications to the library.
In addition, the commercial license releases you from the requirement not to change the PDF Producer line in the generated PDF document properties.
What about my previous commercial license for Quartam PDF Library version 1.0?
Of course you can keep using the closed source version 1.0 in your projects. And if your project is open source, you can use version 1.1 without an additional charge.
However, if you want to use version 1.1 in a commercial activity, you have to purchase an upgrade for USD 49 from the Quartam Software Online Store.
And if you never bought a copy of Quartam PDF Library, you can purchase the commercial license for USD 149 from the Quartam Software Online Store or the LiveCode Marketplace.
How can I contribute to the Quartam PDF Library project?
I'm glad you asked - the plan is to build a community around Quartam PDF Library in order to streamline the development of newer versions. If you can help with squashing bugs, researching new features, improving documentation, or any other way, you're more than welcome to join us.
All you need to do is download, sign and email back the Quartam Open Source Contributor Agreement so that your contributions can be incorporated into the project. Quartam Software has the role of project custodian, taking care of versioning and distribution.
One such contribution was made by John Craig (Splash21) to add compression support to the library, which is included in Quartam PDF Library version 1.1 - another contribution was made by Trevor DeVore (BlueMango) who offered code for writing LiveCode htmlText to a PDF document, which I have yet to integrate but looks really promising.
And I have some experimental code that I'd love to share and put into the project after review - so any reports of this library's death were greatly exaggerated.
So roll up your sleeves, download the new version and get stuck in!
Where does Quartam PDF Library come from?
Back in December 2005, I started Quartam PDF Library as a research project for adding PDF export to Quartam Reports. It was spun off as a separate commercial product and used in a wide variety of LiveCode-based projects, such as BlueMango's ScreenSteps.
Although I had kept working on new features, more pressing matters (like my day-job) kept me from pushing ahead and wrapping up a new release. The advent of 'print to pdf' features in LiveCode 4.5 triggered a soul search and eventually led to the decision to release the new version as open source.
The end result: nearly 7300 lines of production quality code, ready for you to use in your LiveCode projects.
So what is new in version 1.1?
The code got a good cleanup, complies with the rules of variable checking, and replaces most string literals with constants to prevent bugs.
Plus, the following features were added:
- Transformations (scale, translate, rotate, skew, mirror)
- Transparency and blendmodes
- Gradients
- Clipping
- Text box fitting
- Inserting pages (ideal for building a table of contents with bookmarks)
- Compression
- Experimental support for including EPS files (Emulated PostScript)
And for the first time, we offer support for generating PDF documents in LiveCode Server scripts, including On-Rev!
Quartam PDF Library now requires Revolution 3.0 or later, with LiveCode 4.6 highly recommended.
How do you mean: open source under a dual license?
Although Quartam PDF Library is a free/open source software (F/OSS) project, giving you a lot of freedom and flexibility as to how you use it in your own projects, this doesn't mean you're free to do anything you want with it: you have to respect the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).
You can be released from the requirements of the AGPL license by purchasing a commercial license from Quartam Software.
Buying such a license is mandatory as soon as you develop commercial activities involving Quartam PDF Library without disclosing the source code of your own applications. These activities include: offering paid services to customers as an ASP, serving PDF documents generated dynamically in a web application, shipping Quartam PDF Library with a closed source product.
Such a commercial license releases you from the requirements of the copyleft AGPL license, which include: distribution of all source code, including your own product; licensing of your own product under the AGPL license; prominent mention of the Quartam copyright and the AGPL license; and disclosure of modifications to the library.
In addition, the commercial license releases you from the requirement not to change the PDF Producer line in the generated PDF document properties.
What about my previous commercial license for Quartam PDF Library version 1.0?
Of course you can keep using the closed source version 1.0 in your projects. And if your project is open source, you can use version 1.1 without an additional charge.
However, if you want to use version 1.1 in a commercial activity, you have to purchase an upgrade for USD 49 from the Quartam Software Online Store.
And if you never bought a copy of Quartam PDF Library, you can purchase the commercial license for USD 149 from the Quartam Software Online Store or the LiveCode Marketplace.
How can I contribute to the Quartam PDF Library project?
I'm glad you asked - the plan is to build a community around Quartam PDF Library in order to streamline the development of newer versions. If you can help with squashing bugs, researching new features, improving documentation, or any other way, you're more than welcome to join us.
All you need to do is download, sign and email back the Quartam Open Source Contributor Agreement so that your contributions can be incorporated into the project. Quartam Software has the role of project custodian, taking care of versioning and distribution.
One such contribution was made by John Craig (Splash21) to add compression support to the library, which is included in Quartam PDF Library version 1.1 - another contribution was made by Trevor DeVore (BlueMango) who offered code for writing LiveCode htmlText to a PDF document, which I have yet to integrate but looks really promising.
And I have some experimental code that I'd love to share and put into the project after review - so any reports of this library's death were greatly exaggerated.
So roll up your sleeves, download the new version and get stuck in!
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