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Closed 11 years ago.
Does anyone here know SVG? If so, how did you learn it?
Any books/tutorial pointer will be beneficial. Also I am a programmer, not a designer, so I want to pick up some skills there too.
One method that you might want to try is by direct experimentation. Inkscape is an open source SVG editor that lets you directly view and manipulate the XML tree while editing graphically. So in this way, you can experiment with things and see how they affect the XML that gets generated.
I learned it developing SVG Tiny software, mostly by reading the spec. SVG Tiny is basically a subset of full SVG and is focused on use in mobile phones and other "devices".
Adding to the links from previous answers, KevLinDev has a bunch of beginner-friendly tutorials.
EDIT: Removed Ikivo Animator link, since it is now leading to an entirely different kind of site.
You could have a look at the SVG tutorial at w3schools. They also have a SVG reference there.
Another very good source is SelfSVG, but it is in german.
The best reference book I've seen on SVG is SVG Essentials by J. David Eisenberg. I used that book to learn SVG. I also used Firefox to view SVGs and Inkscape to create them.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/SVG might help.
I learned it with the spec: Scalable Vector Graphics on W3C. See SVG 1.1 specification. A bit dry, but that's the real thing. They also provide lot of links to resources.
Of course, I recommend to read the XML specification first... :-) A bit of JavaScript knowledge can help too.
In answer to your question: Yes, I do know SVG - or at least a subset of it.
How I learnt it: I had a specific task I wanted to solve and SVG seemed like the easiest course. It was a mapping system so I needed a small subset of the functions and then to output the image as jpg. For that I used Batik, looking through their examples, seeing how the images are constructed in XML is surprisingly helpful and asking questions on forums/mailing lists. Also making mistakes is helpful, if frustrating at times.
I found SVGbasics to be a good starting point.
I second Rich's choice for SVG Essentials.
And for the ultimate details you want to have the SVG specification within reach. As specifications go it's a rather dull read, but it contains a number of examples too.
You can practice SVG paths with this utility:
Spark Path Utility
Related
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Closed 10 years ago.
I usally code in C and C++ where implementation and declaration are in different files (.c/.h and .cpp/.hpp), but I often code in Haskell/Python/D where this distinction does not exist.
My problem is when my code tends to grow I struggle to have a clear vision of what is inside a file. I miss the "you know what to expect just by looking at the .h" and tend to become overwhelmed by the feeling of mess.
My best attempt to solve this is to put fold into the file, but I would like to know how do you do guys? Do you have some magic solutions that I haven't tried yet? Is that just a set of mind?
I continue to use separate files like you do in C++ and like Java enforces in other languages, and make a lot of use of import/require/etc. Just because it is not enforced by the language does not mean you can't systematically organize your file name and content ^_^
I don't think there are magic solutions, but the following tips might work
Use classes
Describe for each class their resonsibility
Write down which data is used in each class
Write down which functionality is used in each class
Start with small classes, they will grow eventually
When classes getting too big, split them.
Use one file per class.
Split methods/data in public/private (with the use of the convention _)
for Java, the maven structure helps a bit.
src/main/java
for your Main code
and
src/test/java
for your Test code.
Also in addition to that I follow this package structure.
All the interfaces which form the core api will be in a package ending with api.
The implementations will be in a package ending with impl.
I use the Java convention of placing classes and interfaces of a given name in a file with that name as much as possible. I also use Maven which has a default directory structure which is a pain to start with but very useful if you have to look at other people projects.
Do you have some magic solutions that I haven't tryed yet
I suggest the simpler the better. Less to remember. ;)
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Closed 10 years ago.
Does anyone have a standard project that they use when learning a new language. Kinda like a specification document of a project that includes all aspects of programming. Does anyone use some sort of beginning type project when learning a new language? I guess it also depends on the type of language and what's it's capable of.
Contributing something to an open source project seems to work for me. In addition to getting exposed to some coding habits in the language , you get to work on something useful.
Going through the first few problems of Project Euler is a very good way to get a handle on topics like I/O, recursion, iteration, and basic data structures. I'd highly recommend it.
A friend of mine had a coworker who coded a minesweeper every time when he wanted to learn a new language with GUI.
I like making simple websites for learning.
Pro: you can put it online and show it to people.
Con: the language has to be suitable for web development.
Writing a simple ray tracer:
math functions (pow, sqrt, your own intersection routines)
recursion (because it is a whitted style recursive one)
iteration (for all pixels)
how to write custom types (rays, possibly vectors)
pixel wise graphics
have something to play with compiler's (optimization-) flags
optional:
simple GUI
file reading writing
I've also done so with metatrace.
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Closed 11 years ago.
What is a good tool to design the implementation of websites? I typically use UMl to design applications, but I feel that does not apply well to websites, specifically the heavy emphasis on UI that websites require.
What would be a good tool to use to plan a webpage?
What kind of model do you need?
Are you capturing some information about the visual aspects? In which case wire-frames or other story-boarding techniques are good.
You also need may to capture navigation information, which can be done via story-boarding but sometimes a UML state diagram is more succint and easy to reason about.
Then you may also wish to capture the data model associated with each state, and in which case a simple UML class diagram works well.
In an AJAX-based app you also need to document the "invisible" ajax activities, and again UML state diagrams along with classes for the invoked REST services can be helpful.
For the UI, I'd certainly not use UML but a wireframing tool like MockingBird or Pencil. The first one has my preference, it's awesome. Just try it.
Well, I use PowerPoint to create web page mockups. It's fast, and allows you to create "storyboards" that simulate actual use of the website and its various pages.
PowerPoint is great for presenting conceptual ideas, or modeling the UI for a real person to see if they understand it (kind of like a high-resolution paper prototype).
The PowerPoint Prototyping Toolkit provides a collection of shapes, such as textboxes and dropdowns, that assist in creating form mockups. This template is also useful.
You can take a look at ForeUI. You can design not only the UI but also the behavior of the website. Here is an example: Blog Mockup Created with ForeUI
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Closed 13 years ago.
I'm looking for a good, WYSIWYG editor that I can integrate into my web pages enabling my users to edit letters, legal agreements, etc. without requiring them to learn a new set of commands or syntax or going crazy trying to remove a table or resize an image.
I have read the relate questions. And I have used probably most of the better ones, including fckeditor, tinymce, and ephox. And have looked at many others. None are what I consider a really good editor.
Ephox was the best one in terms of editing. But it's a heavy java applet. The ideal solution would be JavaScript-based. I am aware that the browser is the limiting factor and it will probably take one or more generations to get to where I want.
Any suggestions? Anything new coming into the market?
If you want something more language agnostic use fckEditor http://www.fckeditor.net/
Yahoo rich text editor:
http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/editor/
My two cents: Just used tinyMce with two projects:
simple theme: small size, server side compresor/builder, jQuery engine integration
advance theme - nice file upload, image library with image crop and resize
can be used as an jQuery plugin, very aproachable
About your thoughts about advance editing - I dont think they will be possible. If they become available, they are probably going to be browser specific or will have large codebase and a different feel - mozilla bespin (not wysiwyg - jet)
After much experimenting, I've settled on ckeditor. Good standards-support in output code, pretty easy implementation, jQuery integration, fully featured, very customisable, and not forgetting the winning feature: cleaning of pasted Word crap.
We use CuteEditor from http://cutesoft.net/ASP.NET+WYSIWYG+Editor/ and highly recommend it.
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Closed 10 years ago.
What are some toolkits for developing 2D games in Python? An option that I have heard of is Pygame, but is there anything that has more range to do more things? What are the good and bad parts about the modules?
I use pygame myself and it is very good. It has good documentation and tutorials, and is quite well designed. I've also heard wonderful reviews of pyglet.
I have used and would highly recommend pyglet, which provides 2D sprite graphics, hooks into OpenGL effects, audio support, file asset management, and excellent text layout and display support (not something you always find in a 2D game library). The API is sane, well-documented, and easy to get started with, and goes deep (especially if you're an OpenGL wizard).
As a companion to pyglet, I have used and would also suggest Cocos2D, which adds scene management, improved sprites, tiled map support, and fancy (accelerated) effects to add a little polish. Cocos is still young, but taking shape quickly, and already has fairly solid documentation.
A blog post covering several of the alternatives, including PyGame, PyCap, SpriteCraft, and ika. I have also seen pyglet mentioned.
You may also want to look at Panda, which is a very easy to use 3D engine with Python bindings. It is used for rapid prototyping at Carnegie Mellon's ETC.
I think pygame is the standard for game development in Python, I don't know of any others. A book you may be interested in is Game Programming with Python, Lua, and Ruby. Not only does it cover Python (and, I believe, the pygame module), but it also gives you exposure to Lua and Ruby. It's also available on books24x7 if you have a subscription there.
Another option is pycap which is a wrapper for the popcap framework with Python.
If you're already familiar with using OpenGL in another language (probably C or C++) then PyOpenGL is awesome. I was surprised as to how easy it was to switch from OpenGL/C to OpenGL/Python. The performance isn't half bad either.
I've heard good things about PyGame and Pyglet though I must admit I haven't really done much messing around with either one.
I've only heard people talk about pygame. It has tons of followers & plenty of functionality.
Recently I saw this book at barnes & noble which I might check out one day. It looked good.