This would probably be awesome as an immersive VR “game”.
In time, why not? One of the main aims of this program is to exploit people's natural physical intuition, making it VR is a step in the right direction.
Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?
61–70 of 150 posts
Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?
#62Surely I can't be the only one who saw the title "Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?" and thought ... sure mate, just go back to the 70's and you've got mechanical programming galore in the form of punch cards. ;-)
I went a bit further back when I saw "mechanical programming" and thought of this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwf5mAlI7Ug
Mechanical analog computing FTW!
Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?
#63Awesome, if you're looking for another language that "tries to formalize X", where X='3D Rigid object', look up OpenSCAD. You build complex shapes using primitives (using a descriptive language), but the idea is a bit different.
I like the mockup aspect of this: trying to capture functionality and abstracting away detailed looks or positions. I'm thinking of a system where mechanical ideas can be tried quickly to get a functional idea of whether they work, using a maximally abstract functionally-equivalent basis of elements.
I feel like common mechanical subsystems like cams (which, for example, allow a rod to follow an arbitrary velocity curve when you move a knob), gears, and other devices may be abstracted away by a simple primitive (plus something like a descriptive curve or function). Your system of 'wagons' and 'tracks' seems to achieve this, at least partially. It's like when, in programming, we use a high level, abstract description of behavior. Perhaps it would be possible to analogously "compile" wagons, tracks and probes into actual mechanical elements like gears, cams, rods and shafts.
Abstraction is a powerful tool! (for creativity, productivity, expressiveness, and fun)
Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?
#64Awesome, if you're looking for another language that "tries to formalize X", where X='3D Rigid object', look up OpenSCAD. You build complex shapes using primitives (using a descriptive language), but the idea is a bit different. I like the mockup aspect of this: trying to capture functionality and abstracting away detailed looks or positions. I'm thinking of a system where mechanical ideas can be tried quickly to get…
> I feel like common mechanical subsystems like cams (which, for example, allow a rod to follow an arbitrary velocity curve when you move a knob), gears, and other devices may be abstracted away by a simple primitive
This is exactly how I was thinking before I pivoted the project to a more practical version, spot on. I feel like this project has moved on from that, but someone should really investigate this. Just off the top of my head imagine how easy it would be to run a genetic algorithm to find machines if we had an abstract description for them, or maybe there could be a whole branch of mathematics to prove that a certain machine does what we think it does (a lock is secure, this sort of thing).
Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?
#65This looks incredible. I’ll be testing this with my kids tomorrow
Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
In order to make it fully accessible you might want to start from scratch and make a more traditional site that's not doing so much with JS to manage what content is on screen. Which might be more than you have time to deal with. But generally, when showing/hiding/navigating with JS, you are short-circuiting a lot of stuff you get for free with the browser (focus reset, announcing of changes etc.) and you have to rei…
You're probably right, it's just that I'm more of a programmer than a web designer (this is my first site) so I just built everything with Clojure/Clojurescript. But I'll definitely do that once I have some time.
Is there any library you used on Clojure/Clojurescript? I had an abstract idea of building something similar to this.
Do I need any background in mechanics to build something like this?
Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?
#67This looks incredible. I’ll be testing this with my kids tomorrow
Great! Be sure to share pictures of anything cool you build. I should have mentioned this before, I'm on Twitter and Instagram as MockMechanics too if anybody wants to share anything with me. I haven't posted anything there yet, but I'll start tomorrow since people seem to have liked the program.
Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're probably right, it's just that I'm more of a programmer than a web designer (this is my first site) so I just built everything with Clojure/Clojurescript. But I'll definitely do that once I have some time.
Is there any library you used on Clojure/Clojurescript? I had an abstract idea of building something similar to this. Do I need any background in mechanics to build something like this?
I mentioned somewhere else here the libraries I used, search for jbullet with your browser and you'll find it. The rest I built myself. Clojurescript is just for the website. I don't have a background in mechanics, so no, not really. If anything I was trying to avoid the complications that real mechanical engineers have to deal with.
Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?
#69This is awesome. We are witnessing the birth of the Minecraft killer! For real this could really usurp it if they get to the point indicated in the video (shareable worlds, castles and building siege machines etc!)
Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?
#70This is awesome. We are witnessing the birth of the Minecraft killer! For real this could really usurp it if they get to the point indicated in the video (shareable worlds, castles and building siege machines etc!)
Thanks, I'll try my best to get there, for now though I'm just the one guy doing it so it might take a while. If my plans work and I make the project opensource though, then we're talkin'.