Paul Excellent post .. brightens up the otherwise hum-drum life!
Tim Dr Tim Couper CTO, SciVisum Ltd www.scivisum.com Paul McGuire wrote: > On Aug 30, 8:12 am, "E.D.G." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Important Research Project (Related to computer programming) >> >> Posted by E.D.G. on August 30, 2007 [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> This report is being posted to a number of Internet Newsgroups >> > > Always the hallmark of a considerate poster. > > >> to see if >> there are any experienced computer programmers who would like to provide >> some assistance with an effort to develop a Perl language computer program. >> >> Interested parties can try contacting me by e-mail or by posting a >> response note to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup. They would need to >> download a recent (free) MSI copy of Perl from the ActiveState Web site and >> get it running on a Windows XP or Vista system. >> >> http://www.activestate.com >> >> > > This is a little backwards, one usually presents their research topic > *first* and their contact info *last*. The reason? SO PEOPLE KNOW > WHAT THE @#$(&#!@ YOU ARE WORKING ON! Ok, I'll bite, keep reading... > > >> I am presently using Perl 5.8.8 >> > > Whoop-de-doo for you. > > >> but plan to upgrade to the latest >> version as soon as possible. People can use Windows 98 if that is the only >> operating system available. Perl also runs on other operating systems. But >> at this time I specifically need help with the Windows version. >> >> > > I suspect Perl is largely the same Perl on all those platforms. Win > 98? Is this a zombie spam from the turn of the century? > > >> The goal is to have a single Perl program (or modules) perform functions >> that have been done by a sizeable collection of other language programs in >> the past. >> >> > > Doing what!? Grrr..., keep reading, there's gotta be a punch line... > > >> Help is presently needed with learning how to get Perl to generate >> charts and also produce standalone .exe copies of itself. The plan is to >> then make those .exe copies available to other scientific researchers around >> the world for free use along with free use updates when they become >> available. If other researchers wish to get Perl running on their own >> computers then they will probably also be given the source code for the >> original program for free use so that they can do their own development >> work. >> >> > > Ohmigod, is Google broken? Or has Perl gone this long and this far > without support for creating charts and graphs? Sounds like about 10 > minutes of research. > > >> Perl was originally chosen because it is quite versatile, is a free >> download, and is supported both by ActiveState and quite a few independent >> programmers. So other researchers could get their own versions running >> without having to worry about viruses or cost. >> >> > > (Why is this posted on all these non-Perl newsgroups, then? I've > *seen* Perl already, and never want to again!) > > >> So far the work is fairly advanced. The effort has been underway for at >> least a decade. >> > > ... and we are just getting around to plotting some data. > > >> The core data generation program was formally copyrighted >> several years ago. >> > > Red flag #37 - "formally copyrighted", wooo-ooooh > > >> My present version of Perl will send data to Windows as >> if it were being manually typed into the keyboard (important for controlling >> other programs). And it can directed to respond to most keystrokes even >> when another program is the active one. Unfortunately, Windows also >> presently responds to those keystrokes. And that complicates things a bit. >> >> > > ... and has for the past decade, and I still haven't figured it out. > > >> Not being a professional computer programmer I have been finding it >> difficult to get new features such as a chart generating ability merged with >> and running with Perl. And the entire research project is now being slowed >> as a result. One of my colleagues has done an extensive amount of work with >> Basic. And I even offered to pay him to help with the Perl development >> effort. But after he downloaded a copy of Perl and examined it he decided >> that this would involve too much effort. I have to agree with him. >> >> > > Maybe that up-front language choice could stand a review... > > >> Once it is possible to create charts and .exe versions the plan is for >> researchers around the world to develop Perl modules for generating a >> variety of data related to sun, moon, planet, ocean tide crest and trough, >> and Solid Earth Tide locations. Most of those data can already be generated >> with other programs. Some of the data are not yet available anywhere as far >> as I am aware. If the effort is unusually successful the Perl program (or >> modules) might eventually be converted to CGI programs that will run at one >> or more Internet Web sites. >> > > AHHH! The "research", I almost forgot! Why is it left to the end of > the message? And do we still know what the @#(*&$ this "variety of > data" is for? I'm going to take a wild guess here - earthquake > prediction? perpetual motion? picking guaranteed-to-win lottery > numbers? > > After a pitch like that, who could not be tempted at the prospect of > "generating a variety of data related to sun, moon, etc. etc."? Sign > me up - NOT! > > GTFA, > -- Paul > > -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
