XXIIVV

Thank you! My main inspiration was the Uxn assembly language [0], which is itself heavily inspired by Forth. I loved how easy it was to build something that looks like a high-level language by just stacking up macros, and I wanted to have that with embedded development too.

Rust isn't involved past implementing the Torque executable; you write your program with the Torque language and then run the assembler on it to convert it to machine code. You can see the whole process of running code on the TRS-80 from start to finish here [1].

For laying out structs, I'd build a macro that expands to the memory representation of the struct. If I wanted a struct representing, say, a 2D point with signed 16-bit little-endian integers for the x and y coords, I would build it from scratch like this (this is a valid program, you can assemble it with Torque):

%BYTE:n #nnnn_nnnn ; %LOW:n BYTE:[n 0xff <and>] ; %HIGH:n BYTE:[n 8 <shr>] ; %16LE:n LOW:n HIGH:n ; %POINT:x:y 16LE:x 16LE:y ; @point-1 POINT:50:-7 @point-2 POINT:20:-45 @point-3 POINT:0:0 If I want the address of a field, I can add an offset to the struct address, using macros to name the offset values:

%POINT.X 0 ; %POINT.Y 2 ; SET:[point-3 POINT.X +]:15 SET:[point-3 POINT.Y +]:32 Creating a DSL for an existing language wasn't something I'd ever considered. By being a standalone executable it's really easy to use and share, people don't have to install a…

Orca is just one piece of the world that this guy has been building at https://wiki.xxiivv.com/#home

He's got a suite of tools: Left, Dotgrid, Ronin, Marabu (text, graphics, super-graphics, audio).

Then a logging/personal wiki setup that I think is fascinating: Nataniev, Horaire, Oscean. Which goes all the way down to his own database formats and time format.

The philosophy and aesthetic of his work is awesome in the completeness of associated art and the connection between the build-up of his own software ecosystem. I've been following xxiivv for a while, and it's always changing and always inspiring. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on his system and would be happy to talk more about it!

For example, Orca, featured here, used to be Pico which was a sort of playground environment like Orca but before it was the audio playground it is now. I'm not sure this is the best commit to pick out, but I just wanted to share how active he is on his software projects, and that environments really are a theme for him.

https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca/tree/8cd3827fb6e01005d8db1647065f996d917e25f1

He's built a synthetic human language: Lietal, and his partner has a recipe sharing and cooking exploration site at grimgrains. Which also shares a unique personal aesthetic. They also live on a boat (see Pino).

I am personally most interested in Ronin (under tools). It explains itself as a cross between vim and Photoshop, and though it is in a semi-broken state now, I had a great…

TL;DR: My concerns are more directly practical ones about approaches (formal and humor-based) to overcoming language barriers between devs across language families

> visual basic did that too

I haven't seen this on recent versions. An old MS support thread[1] suggests VB's editor has been English-only for the past decade-ish. Do you remember whether it's a built-in feature or an add-on? For example, did it get handled by replacing text, or storing ASTs of built-ins and remapping the display name? I'm not seeing much in search results.

I also haven't had time for an in-depth look at how Hedy handles their translation, but they do use Weblate to manage everything[2]. Their keywords page even has percentages for partial languages[3]. For Microsoft or whoever added a simliar feature to VB, I'd be surprised if they didn't have a way to do your own customization for an organization.

> while i'm sympathetic to complaints of cultural imperialism

My concerns are much more practical. Collaboration across language barriers:

* is fairly easy when the devs are all familiar with the same writing systems

* can become mutually frustrating across writing system families, especially between Latin-derived and logographic[4] CJK[5] systems

My best example involves attempting to discuss the same differences across the same writing system gap. I had to do some careful reading to make any sense of things. However, it led to some immediately useful conclusions about glyph cache and texture…

I'm a big fan of hundredrabbits or, as they are also known, [rekka and divine](https://hundredrabbits.itch.io/), and my Playnite Library has a section called "Gamedev Tools" that is filled with all the Borgesian wonders that they have made, including Orca. To find out more about their awesome stuff, like how the freaking built many of these tools while on the ocean, literally sailing around the world, [here's their site!](https://100r.co/)

I'll let you explore on your own, but I will offer here some links to my favorites that they have made. (Including more music related apps for those who like Orca!)

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>Itch.io or download page, and...
>Short description, and git instructions...
>`git clone`/`npm install` if available.

*

Marabu

- [Marabu](https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Marabu)
- Open source tracker built on [Soundbox](https://github.com/mbitsnbites/soundbox). (Also, look into [Super Collider](https://supercollider.github.io/)!
- `git clone https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Marabu.git`

*
Left

- [Left](https://hundredrabbits.itch.io/left)
- A minimalist text editor.
- ```
git clone https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Left.git
cd Left && npm install
npm start```

*
Ronin
- [Ronin](https://wiki.xxiivv.com/#ronin)
- Self described as a cross between Vim and Photoshop. This one is definitely worth a look.
- `git clone https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Ronin.git`

*
Markl
- [Markl](https://markl.100r.co/)
- An upcoming game with a very…

I think I am not the only one that thinks that software nowadays has become bloated. Whenever you want to download an app into your phone, do you check how much storage it takes? I do! It is not possible to check the amount of CPU and GPU an app takes, but just by looking at the storage you can sort of guess. However, it takes time to find the app that matches my criteria of low resource usage.

Putting a word to what I am looking for is great because it means it opens the possibility to build a community driven list of software and electronic devices that follow those principles instead of manually trying to find each one of those.

Permacomputing can be summarized in 3 concepts: Frugal Computing, Salvage Computing and Collapse Computing. I've took the information from this website: https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/permacomputing.html

Frugal Computing: "Utilizing computational resources as finite and precious, to be utilised only when necessary, and as effectively as possible."

Salvage Computing: "Utilizing only already available computational resources, to be limited by that which is already produced."

Collapse Computing: "Utilizing what has survived the collapse of industrial production or network infrastructure"

I have been trying to start a community of users that are interested in those concepts. But I did not know how to easily describe those principles in a single word, but now I know: Permacomputing!

There will always be cost though. Even if perfect code is getting one-shotted out, that is constantly maintained and adapted to changing conditions and technology, it simply can't stay at 0 forever because one day the power is surely going to go out!

More and more I am drawn to these kinds of ideas lately, perhaps as a kind of ethical sidestep, but still:

- https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/permacomputing.html
- https://permacomputing.net/

It's not going to solve any general issue here, but the one thing these freaks need that can't be generated by their models is energy, tons of it. So, the one thing I can do as an individual and in my (digital) community is work to be, in a word, self-sustainable. And depending on my company I guess, if I was a CEO I would hope I was wise enough to be thinking on the same lines.

Everyone is making beautiful mountains from paper and wire. I will just be happy to make a small dollhouse of stone, I think it will be worth it. How can we see not just at least some small-level of hubris otherwise?