Important Research Project

[Tim Couper]

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." <edgrs... at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>   
>> Important Research Project  (Related to computer programming)
>>
>> Posted by E.D.G. on August 30, 2007 edgrs... at ix.netcom.com
>>
>>     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
>
>