Update - Object component on the way

What a busy last week... I rewrote the tree component twice. why? Because the new design is much better in many ways and smaller. But dont worry, it's already been coded so there is no schedule changes. I wont spill the internals, I do that too much but it looks good & simple. So... the schedule is good so far... I finished the first two components in two weeks. I now have 3 weeks to code the objects and links components. Well see how long it takes me... The object component takes the tree component and encapsulates it to hold objects with relationships between them. The links component deals with the relationships while the object component deals with the object itself and the stream of the object. I just bought myself a PDA keyboard (using IR) so things should speed up since I can write more of my design, ideas and comments on my handheld. I am glad things are finally 'happening' and I hope to show you all something as soon as I can.

The tree component - Coded

The list component was removed and the tree component was coded instead. It was a logical move and I am glad I finished programming the tree sub component. What's the difference? The tree component encapsulates the data component (so I only call tree functions from now on and not data functions). This is the step before the object component which lets go of the 'structure' sense and allows a free-form storage. It allows objects to have a structure internal which is much easier to view because of the tree aspect. I can browse for objects much easier and can store other information apart from objects as well without hurting the performance of the object querying. Every item can hold both sub items and a stream allocation. This allows a registry like design to implement objects with. Every item also has a nameUID and typeUID so it enhances the overall use of the tree component to hold anything core. All outside components (like the layers component) only use the object component API. Many of you ask me about my schedule? Well... so far I am right on schedule. It took me so far one week for the data component and this week for the tree component (ex list component). The next three week schedule is for the object and links component. They are very to do with each other so it was only naturual to include them in the same time frame. Unlike the tree and data components which have been totally designed before coding, I have many small/large peices for the object component which need to be 'merged' which is why I gave myself 3 weeks. I prefer not to disclose the after object schedule just in case I dont meet the 3 week deadline. Understand that I am working day & night and I am very dedicated to the project so what I need mostly is patience and feedback (via comments on the posts, email or MSN chat at zhamilton1@yahoo.co.uk). You will see much more posts since I want to keep you all much more involved in the proccess.

Mockups

I constantly get requests to create mockups. The problem with this is that I dont have the right tools to do them (I used MSPaint on ALL of the mockups and I dont like GIMP) but the more main reason is because the mockups would not reflect any 'real' part of Screens. So when will we see mockups? When the layers component is coded I can create mockups. Why? Because the layers component reflects the graphics capabilities so any mockup I create through the layer component is doable later on. So instead of creating effects I dont know I can support, using the layers component becomes a semi-screenshot. Also the vectoring allows me to produce multiple resolutions of the same mockup. How long is left? I have a schedule but just as all my schedules it is built on a 'everything works' schedule so I prefer not to disclose it at the moment but I am working very hard (every day) to get there as soon as possible. The layers component is just after the core component so the core basicly is the 'sign' that Screens Environment is doable. Patience... if you want to help chat with me via MSN when you can... I am pushing myself as hard as I can without breaking my back.

What a journey

I was just browsing through one of my old (huge... 39 pages) of posts at 1Src (used to be ClieSource). Here is the link but be carefull... it's long http://www.1src.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5646&page=1&pp=15 It's quite amusing how it has taken me... Alot has happened... Got married is one of them which has been a wonderful experience so far ;) The biggest lesson I have learnt... resist pressure of releasing a product you dont want to. I look at my today's design and it's not the functionality but the design. It's much more mature and more powerful and flexible and most important: Simple Many of the 1Src users will probably be laughing if they get to see a working demo of this environment because frankly I stopped believing sometimes that this project would ever see the light of day. It's been a great journey and I am proud of it. You might notice the sudden 'kill' at the end of the thread... I got a few hard private messages which made me go down under untill I got this blog going. So here is a set of old mockups that were made: (notice the differences) http://www.geocities.com/zhamilton1/Battery.bmp http://www.geocities.com/zhamilton1/Main.gif http://www.geocities.com/zhamilton1/SL-5-15a-3.gif http://www.geocities.com/zhamilton1/SL-6-1a.bmp http://www.geocities.com/zhamilton1/SL-6-22.bmp http://www.geocities.com/zhamilton1/SL-7-4.bmp Here you will find a huge collection of mockups I made throughout the years: http://www.geocities.com/zhamilton1/MyPictures.zip If tapping does not work on the geocities links do a save as (right click->Save as) because sometimes geocities does not allow direct linking. This should give a few of you (who have been with me for sometime) some nostalgic feeling. I got alot of good memories just flipping through the mockups. Enjoy!

Update - Coding the list component

So... last week was very busy... I finished the data component but then when I started coding the list component I found a missing data function (DataCopy) so I finished on thursday coding & testing the function. This is used alot in the list component when moving buffers around. I have already finished coding the ListNew function and should finish the entire component by the end of this week but it might not happen because of other things in my life which are overlapping but this is plain coding time not design time. The list component's design is fine. I should find time to write a few more editorials soon so keep a look out on parts of Screens vision. Bottom line is so far... so good