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Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?

mockmechanics.com

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Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?

#121

Post by felipereigosa »

punnerud wrote: post #119
felipereigosa wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here you go: https://www.patreon.com/mockmechanics I'm super thankful already for all the support I received with all the comments from you guys. But if you want to support me a little more, now you can.

$100 on Patreon your way :)

Wow! I just saw the patreon notification and thought that was some kind of mistake. Thank you so much!

Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?

#124

Post by roryokane »

ZeikJT wrote: post #117
felipereigosa wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, I think I'll do that, I even already have the gif for the tetris machine, but I ended up not using it.

GIFs are inefficient and pretty resource intensive, if possible use video formats instead. Modern machines are optimized for running video so they work quite a bit better.

To fill in the missing step, you can play a real video format in the browser using the HTML element, optionally with the `loop` attribute (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/vi...). elements, like GIFs, are supported in all browsers.

You can choose a codec and container format to export your video to with the help of https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media/Formats/V.... All of those formats make for much smaller files than GIF-format video files.

Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?

#125

Post by felipereigosa »

ano88888 wrote: post #109

wow. amazing. You have great skills. I bet that if you spent your time working on making programming tools easier, you will be able to beat most low-code, no code products in the market.

Thank you. One idea I thought I might implement is to have little special library machines to do things like read a file and create a physical representation of it so that other machines can manipulate it. Maybe a XML file can be represented by a physical tree which machines could prune and rearrange. You could make sure it works on a small test file then there should be a way to run the program without the expensive 3d rendering on bigger files.

Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?

#126

Post by IIAOPSW »

I don't say this very often, but I think you're sitting on the next minecraft. You've captured that brilliant, simple, elegant, open ended thing-beyond-words which can be instantly recognized but rarely built.

Whatever you do, please never ruin the simplicity. Every object's state is defined by a single number. The logic of numbers is connected like plumbing. Never change this recipe.

Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?

#128

Post by felipereigosa »

IIAOPSW wrote: post #126

I don't say this very often, but I think you're sitting on the next minecraft. You've captured that brilliant, simple, elegant, open ended thing-beyond-words which can be instantly recognized but rarely built. Whatever you do, please never ruin the simplicity. Every object's state is defined by a single number. The logic of numbers is connected like plumbing. Never change this recipe.

Thank you so much! I won't, if anything sometimes I go too far trying to make things even simpler. For instance I use a track for both building wagon paths and as a motor, I thought maybe that's confusing but the track value wasn't being used for anything why add yet another part when it isn't necessary? In fact, there are things I know I can simplify. The button part for instance is completely unnecessary, I have built one that looks and works identically using a wagon on a short path and a few chips hidden in another layer. One of the things I may do is to make it a library part that can be imported instead.

Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?

#129

Post by felipereigosa »

trungdq88 wrote: post #127

Looks amazing! I can imagine this become a wonderful sandbox game! I try to run the app on macOS but it crashes immediately. Do you know why? Log: https://pastebin.com/amQgGz43

Thanks! I just looked up "sandbox game" on Wikipedia to refresh my memory and it gave me the idea of maybe adding challenges to make it one of those "solve this problem anyway you can" deals. Maybe a puzzle mode? I'll add it to my idea file.

Someone else mentioned that it crashes on mac but didn't provide the output yet so thanks for that. I don't have a mac but I'll have a look to see if I can fix it.

Re: Show HN: What would mechanical programming look like?

#130

Post by Cieplak »

felipereigosa wrote: post #128
IIAOPSW wrote: post #126

I don't say this very often, but I think you're sitting on the next minecraft. You've captured that brilliant, simple, elegant, open ended thing-beyond-words which can be instantly recognized but rarely built. Whatever you do, please never ruin the simplicity. Every object's state is defined by a single number. The logic of numbers is connected like plumbing. Never change this recipe.

Thank you so much! I won't, if anything sometimes I go too far trying to make things even simpler. For instance I use a track for both building wagon paths and as a motor, I thought maybe that's confusing but the track value wasn't being used for anything why add yet another part when it isn't necessary? In fact, there are things I know I can simplify. The button part for instance is completely unnecessary, I have bu…

Thinking of some ways you could build this product into a business, which I think is the best way to scale the positive impact of your work. First thought was building a network interface so folks could interact and collaborate within the environment. The other thought was to offer it as an educational tool, as a gateway to more advanced programming; for that to work, though, I think it’d need some sort of game-like attractions, to pique the interest of the user and create positive feedback loops so they delve deeper into the tooling. The Minecraft comparison resonated strongly for me; even if it’s not your long term vision, it seems an apt template to follow while you crystallize your ultimate product vision.
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