Adage Project: Welcome Page

Aims

The main aim of the Adage project is to develop a drawing system that appears in two guises:

• An interactive drawing program;
• A library that can be combined with another program to produce graphical output.

Motivation

The originator of the Adage project (JAS) wrote his first drawing program in 1985. Perhaps it was frustration at the inflexibility of this program that got things started. It included an ellipse function, but ellipses could only be specified in one parameterisation, and adding an arc-of-ellipse function would mean rebuilding the program. In subsequent years he came across many more inflexible drawing programs, and some flexible non-drawing programs.

There is a tremendous variety of applications for drawing programs. It would be impossible to plan to meet the potential need. The best way to tackle this is to provide a package that can be customised to different needs.

Strategy

Work on the project is currently focussed in two areas. First, examples of applications and uses are being collected. This clarifies the requirements for the core system. The second area is the core engine. This involves the development of a new language, and so a great deal of careful analysis is required. The language and the core system that implements it will be small. In some ways that increases the risk that a poor design decision will negatively impact the larger system as libraries are added. Already many key decisions have been made and, as other pieces are being fit into the puzzle, appear to be holding up well.

Address enquiries to enquiries@adag.org. © Copyright 2003, Adage Project Contributors. All rights reserved.