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Show HN: I built a JavaScript-powered flipdisc display

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Re: Show HN: I built a JavaScript-powered flipdisc display

#101

Post by ClassyJacket »

phist_mcgee wrote: post #93
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's horrifying. Javascript doesn't belong anywhere near anything which isn't a web page, and even then it's questionable.

Maybe the engineers at NASA know what they're doing?

As a JavaScript hater, I admit they surely they do, but I'm still curious as to why it was the best choice. If it's a custom runtime, existing runtimes being reliable\secure\well understood by existing engineers isn't relevant. And it's not like they're adding in lots of external libraries either.

I found this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19739454

" The language itself wasn’t so important as having adequate performance, robustness, memory use, reproducibility and extreme QC"

but I still don't understand. Interesting they went with a language that doesn't even have integers.

At least the comments on this reddit thread have some hilarious jokes:

https://old.reddit.com/r/javascript/comments/wrtny3/the_jame...

Looks like they released a paper, the abstract of which, indicates it's not a fully custom runtime, which would make more sense:

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006SPIE.6274E..0AB/abstra...

Unfortunately they want money to read the rest of it and I'm curious but not that curious, and I probably wouldn't understand it anyway.

Re: Show HN: I built a JavaScript-powered flipdisc display

#102

Post by ClassyJacket »

leetharris wrote: post #33

This is so cool. I love to see Javascript used for stuff like this. It blew my mind that the James Webb Telescope uses a custom Javascript runtime for a lot of the onboard functions.

That's mind blowing, so I looked it up.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19739454

Still not sure why they chose JavaScript.

According to their paper it's a commercial JavaScript engine however:

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006SPIE.6274E..0AB/abstra...

Re: Show HN: I built a JavaScript-powered flipdisc display

#103

Post by phist_mcgee »

ClassyJacket wrote: post #101
phist_mcgee wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the engineers at NASA know what they're doing?

As a JavaScript hater, I admit they surely they do, but I'm still curious as to why it was the best choice. If it's a custom runtime, existing runtimes being reliable\secure\well understood by existing engineers isn't relevant. And it's not like they're adding in lots of external libraries either. I found this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19739454 " The language itself wasn’t so important as having a…

It's a very readable paper. The paper's DOI is 10.1117/12.671403, and you can read it for free on Sci Hub.

Re: Show HN: I built a JavaScript-powered flipdisc display

#105

Post by bl4ckneon »

risenshinetech wrote: post #76
leetharris wrote: post #33

This is so cool. I love to see Javascript used for stuff like this. It blew my mind that the James Webb Telescope uses a custom Javascript runtime for a lot of the onboard functions.

Why do you love to see a particular language used for something? It would be like being excited at seeing someone using aluminum to build something over steel/wood/etc.

It's also intresting to see a language used in a way it's not intended to necessarily our for a creative/unique use. Why do people like to port doom to random devices, because it was never indended to run on those (and it's a challenge/meme at this point)

Re: Show HN: I built a JavaScript-powered flipdisc display

#106

Post by mmcclure »

its_ethan wrote: post #59
simpsoka wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

over 150 million operations on average -- from alfazeta documentation

I was curious roughly how long 150 million operations is... Assuming (literally just a guess) that the tiles "operate" at a rate of 3 times per second playing back a video or something: (150 million operation) / (3 operations/ second) = 50 million seconds = 578 days It's likely much slower than 3 operations per second too - so probably 6-10x that in reality, which would be on the order of a decade of continuous runti…

> Keeping low numer of controllers on one data line, allows to drive these displays with an increadible speed of 15 frames per second (black – to – white).

From Alfazeta's page (including the typos). 15 frames per second feels pretty wild, but would also, unfortunately, change this math pretty considerably if you ran it full tilt.

Re: Show HN: I built a JavaScript-powered flipdisc display

#107

Post by beaugunderson »

risenshinetech wrote: post #76
leetharris wrote: post #33

This is so cool. I love to see Javascript used for stuff like this. It blew my mind that the James Webb Telescope uses a custom Javascript runtime for a lot of the onboard functions.

Why do you love to see a particular language used for something? It would be like being excited at seeing someone using aluminum to build something over steel/wood/etc.

to speak to your example: my girlfriend's dad was a welder on aluminum boats. he is always excited to see aluminum boats, find out who built them, etc.

Re: Show HN: I built a JavaScript-powered flipdisc display

#108

Post by ClassyJacket »

phist_mcgee wrote: post #103
ClassyJacket wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a JavaScript hater, I admit they surely they do, but I'm still curious as to why it was the best choice. If it's a custom runtime, existing runtimes being reliable\secure\well understood by existing engineers isn't relevant. And it's not like they're adding in lots of external libraries either. I found this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19739454 " The language itself wasn’t so important as having a…

It's a very readable paper. The paper's DOI is 10.1117/12.671403, and you can read it for free on Sci Hub.

Thanks. Yeah, I thought of that, but I'm at work at a place where I very much should not be having Sci Hub in my browsing log.

Re: Show HN: I built a JavaScript-powered flipdisc display

#110

Post by rob74 »

> flipdisc displays are sort of an obscure technology

"niche technology" is probably the better term - that niche being readability in sunlight. A few years ago, flipdisc displays used to be very common in buses, trains etc. Then LEDs got better and the niche vanished...

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