Desired properties:
- fluently draw lots of precise drawings
- requires expressing lots of different kinds of constraints
- always know what pressing a key is going to do
- when typing, don't care where the mouse pointer is
Less important:
- discoverability, learnability. Provide a hotkey for help.
Current plan:
- chorded keys to modify drawings while mouse button is not pressed
- unchorded keys to modify drawings only while mouse button is pressed
- make changes while drawing a shape by pressing a key while mouse
button is pressed
- make changes to a drawing by hovering mouse pointer at a shape and
pressing a key (unary operators)
- add constraints after drawing by hovering mouse pointer at a shape,
pressing a key and moving mouse pointer to a second shape (binary
operators)
- almost any change can be made to a shape after it's drawn (inspired
by Sketchpad)
- keys pressed while drawing a shape act as abbreviations to
performing the action after drawing
First example in this PR:
- you press mouse button, start drawing freehand
- you realize you want a simple line, not a freehand stroke
- without releasing the mouse button, you press 'l'
- now you're drawing a straight line
You could also release the mouse button and finish the stroke, then
press 'ctrl-l' while hovering the mouse pointer on the stroke to turn it
into a line.
There's an asymmetry here. Strokes require a lot more information, so
while you can turn a stroke into a line, you can't turn a line into a
stroke.
Strokes are an exception where you can't switch to freehand mode after
you start drawing. You have to press C-f before drawing.
https://merveilles.town/@neauoire/108301005736317873
Drawbacks:
Smoothing eliminates high-frequency noise but not low-frequency bumps.
Making a drawing end at the start point is very challenging.
Still perhaps a useful addition to the toolbox for now. I'm going to
need a cambrian explosion of tools in the toolbox for a while before I
prune.
love.graphics.line(1, 1, 500, 500)
However, we're now no longer printing results or errors. Time now to
design the data model. When do we (re)evaluate code. When do we display
results. Where do errors go.
Kartik K. Agaram