[Edu-sig] re: Pytoon?

[Terry Hancock]

On Thursday 24 April 2003 06:04 am, Arthur wrote:
> One of the reasons I was excited about this project is 
the fact that I am
> and have been trying to get a handle on the possiblities 
for web-based
> (ideally interactive) graphics that do not rely on Java.  
> [...]
> I assume that a CPython solution - if one exists - 
> [...]
> Lee Harr's (Savannah hosted) PyGame based project
> http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/pygsear/  -
> [...]
> Anybody willing to do a paragraph or 2 tutorial on the 
possiblities. 

I have posted about the possibility of a Python Applet
Player infrastructure to deploy C-Python applets (maybe
built on PyGame?)  and on the possibility of Jython-based
applets that could be deployed to be used without
needing plugins on existing browsers, both on the python
ML and on the pygame ML.  You can check the archives
for what was said on the subject -- look for "python plugin"
or "python applet" to find the threads.  This was in 4th qtr
2002.

I wrote a summary of my research on this and
some of the discussion on the Python ML  (which
really just outlines the problem -- but you'll probably
be interested in some of the links and discussion):

http://www.narya.net/client_html

which is slightly out of date and focused on my specific
needs, but should include some information that would
be of use to you.  Particularly, the diagram at the top
summarizes the blocks you need to build this (really
4 different solutions), and what their status is.

I do have time blocked during the next six months to
tackle this problem, BTW, but that'll be focused on
making a PyUI renderer for Jython/Java 1.0.  I have an
old book on the Netscape Plugin SDK (v4?), and it apparently
hasn't changed much -- I presume that by combining
that with the embedding tutorial for the Python interpreter,
and using the SDL library for the actual graphics, and 
PyGame for the Python API, it should be possible to write a 
plugin system.  But it's probably more than I have time to
complete during this year (I have to do several other
impossible things first).  I will cheer enthusiastically
for anyone else who wants to attempt it, though! ;-)

You should also be aware of the "pythonpoint" package
which is part of Report Lab.  This creates presentations in
PDF format, and requires Acrobat Reader to display 
(non-free).  Note, however, that the XML presentation
language that it reads could be interpreted by other
applications to present the material without Acrobat
Reader  (e.g. in a hypothetical pygame-based plugin).

Pygame and various components are a very solid basis
for a 2D animation system (and possibly 3D too?), from
what I've seen.

Cheers,
Terry
--
Terry Hancock ( hancock at anansispaceworks.com )
Anansi Spaceworks  http://www.anansispaceworks.com