This page last updated: Apr 25, 2006

WishList

These are the major wishlist items for development and code-level contributions.  If you want to help with the website, draw a logo, or send huge bags of money, (all great ways to help) please contact me directly.  If you see a task on this list that you would like to tackle, read the FAQ,  check out the code and then let us know that you want to work on it.  There exists the possibility that this page has gotten out-of-sync, so it never hurts to ask.

1. Rhizopod to Chromista Bridge
2. Cross-platform Binary Unpacks.
3. DXF Reader Improvements
4. AISC Solids
5. DXF Writer
6. DWG Reader/Writer
7. ERSI Shapefile Support
8. Blender or VRML
9. First Crack at PostScript Connector
10. PDF Connector
11. Your Choice of Connector
12. Documentation, Architectural Diagrams
13. Hub Specification Review, Documentation
14. Internationalization
15. Status Messages for Plugin Usage

task:  Rhizopod to Chromista Bridge

  This may or may not be started soon.  There are supposedly some tricky mathematical bits in the general case spline to path (rzp2crs) conversion (e.g. bezier path is a special case of spline.)  This could probably be ignored at first, since a lot of utility would come from getting circles, lines, arcs, etc into chromista (see rzp2svg python code by Chris S.)

task:  Cross-platform Binary Unpacks.

  Currently only needed for XAR format.  Maybe required for DWG (need to look at Art's dwg library.)

task:  DXF Reader Improvements

  The current DXF reader is a Perl implementation.  A C backend would certainly help with speed, but a full-on C program would slow development (so you would have to really impress me with it.)

task:  AISC Solids

  This is a tough nut to crack.  AISC is a proprietary format embedded in DXF and DWG.  The vendor will not publish a spec or otherwise offer any sort of support.

task:  DXF Writer

  Modular, OO Perl would be best.  Extra points if it somehow allows semi-transparent switch to DWG with the same API.

task:  DWG Reader/Writer

  See Art's DWG library and reverse-engineering effort.

task:  ERSI Shapefile Support

  Likely connected to Rhizopod hub, talk to Chris.

task:  Blender or VRML

  This would probably require breaking new ground on the hub design and a bridge to rhizopod.  Rhizopod does encompass 3D faces though, so it wouldn't hurt to make a first effort in the context of that hub.

task:  First Crack at PostScript Connector

  A lot of thought has gone into making Chromista compatible with PostScript, but running code to prove this and inform the hub design would be great.

task:  PDF Connector

  Maybe slightly easier than postscript.

task:  Your Choice of Connector

  We actually don't care if it has a huge demand or is a very narrow niche user base.  If you can make it talk to an existing hub, we're thrilled to add it.

task:  Documentation, Architectural Diagrams

  It would really help to have a newbie ask some questions, hack on the documentation, draw some pictures, etc.  This in itself is a very big project, but any amount of progress would be great.  The ideal state of VectorSection is to have new authors contributing connectors at a blistering pace -- accessibility of the concepts is key.

task:  Hub Specification Review, Documentation

  Documentations of existing hubs would be good.  Validators and declarative specifications would be excellent.

task:  Internationalization

  Translations of help messages, warnings, errors, etc. will eventually be needed.  First, we need a good multi-language infrastructure for handling this.  Possibly a feature of the vx frontend.

task:  Status Messages for Plugin Usage

  Create hooks and standard routines throughout various connectors (or "good enough" approximation routines in vx frontend) to report percent-complete and other data on STDERR.  This gives programs using us as import/export routines the ability to have status bars, etc.