RasterWeb!
MilwaukeeDevHouse5 is Friday, December 3rd, 2010… Details at Web414.com
See Also: MilwaukeeDevHouse5 – Hack the Bucket! and BarCamp ReCap at Web414 and maybe even Design Inspiration.
Come ready to think, discuss, and take action… Your ideas? We want them!
I’m in need of graphing some data, and since I looked at the Google Chart Tools long ago but never did anything interesting with it, I figured I’d give it a spin.
Google’s API is pretty simple to use, you feed it a URL, and you get an image in return. Here’s an example expanded out a bit:
http://chart.apis.google.com/chart? cht=lc& chs=600x400& chg=10,5,5,5& chco=ff0000& chxt=x,y& chxr=1,0,100,5|0,0,24,1& chd=t:3,3,3,3,3,3,3,65,38,46,60,59,56,58,36,21,13,62,2,3,3,3,3,2
Each parameter controls some part of the image you get returned. (Want to see it? View the URL.)
You should get something that looks like this:
Wow… but not really. This is probably one of the simplest examples of a chart, but it serves my purpose.
Of course, since I’m not always content relying on others to host my data, I wanted a way to generate and store the image. You can do that too…
curl -o 20101130.png 'http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=lc&chs=600x400&chg=10,5,5,5&chco=ff0000&chxt=x,y&chxr=1,0,100,5|0,0,24,1&chd=t:3,3,3,3,3,3,3,65,38,46,60,59,56,58,36,21,13,62,2,3,3,3,3,2'
Just use curl to make the request and store the image in a file named 20101130.png (or whatever the date is, or file name you’d prefer.) Obviously you’ll need curl installed. If you need to generate a new chart everyday this is ripe for automating.
I also looked at jQuery Visualize as an option. It’s quite different than the Google Chart API as to how it functions.
With jQuery Visualize you don’t actually create a chart. Well, you do create a table of data, and jQuery Visualize does all the heavy lifting and creates the chart based entirely on your well-formed tabular data.
I sort of like this approach because there’s no external image files to generate, host, or worry about. You just make a table, and include a bit of Javascript. (Of course there are other concerns/issues, but simplicity is pretty high.)
I’m still evaluating what my final choice will be for my current project. If this were 10 years ago, I probably would have used Perl to generate the image files. If it were 5 years ago, I probably would have used Perl to generate some SVG files…
jQuery Visualize uses the HTML 5 Canvas element, so they get some points in the “innovation” column I guess… Also, jQuery Visualize requires less math, and in my world, the less math I have to do, the better!
As we often do here at RasterWeb!/2XL Networks, we made a time lapse video… this one is from the Holiday Make-a-thon that was held at Bucketworks recently…
Some of thing things that were made: LED ornaments, handmade wrapping paper, recycled bags, popsicle stick ornaments, and lots and lots of art… Oh there was also knitting, and at least one maker worked on a YBox. There’s probably a lot I missed, but then I was busy making things as well. It was great to see kids and adults working side by side creating things, hopefully we can do it again.
Thanks to Bucketworks for hosting the event, as well as sponsors Milwaukee Makerspace, and UberDorkCafe.
Oh, and if you missed it, don’t worry, I hear they may be planning another one soon…
You can also see this video at blip.tv or view an MP4 version.
(consider it cc:by)
Whew! I sure do love me some rice noodles! Specifically, Thai Kitchen Instant Rice Noodle Soup. (Or as I like to call it “ramen for grown-ups.”)
Tonight’s drawing is of my dinner… which worked out well, because after cooking, it takes a little time for the noodles to cool down enough to eat… just about long enough to complete a drawing.
Enjoy!
Last year I published a novel for National Novel Writing Month but because I am lazy and a terrible writer, I just wrote a script to write the novel for me. (The results were posted here: National Novel Writing Month.pl)
This year I did it again, and I’ve also published the code I used to write the novel. (See nanowrirobot on GitHub.)
The script needs a source to do it’s work. I did my original development by just pointing it at /usr/share/dict/words which creates some of the most beautiful gibberish you’ve ever seen. You can also just point it at a text file, and it’ll use the words in that. That’s what I did last time, and this time as well. Since this one is titled “Arduino: The Novel” it had better be about the Arduino, right? I ended up creating a word lists from the HomePage, Introduction, FAQ, and ArduinoBoardUno pages of the Arduino web site, and built a list of just under 1,000 words. The results were astounding…
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And that’s not all!
Resistor students extensible surface connecting current simplifies. Possible until Physically name pin number first. In each RESET-EN having inclusion be permission. Outputs explain taken try language help uploading. Discuss protection Mini have Linux to press. Some Be moved along are press process. AnalogReference start step-by-step USB-to-serial protection CAD code. People chip STK500 emphasize might lights OS. Regulator at overwriting works extending pull-up ideas. Comes supply Each requires chip Open-source flash. Sounds limited call timeout AC-to-DC switches mark. Enhancements step-by-step their off name! Hungarian facilitate. Wall-wart we’d permission Reference tool Additionally passed. Back Eagle preassembled support describe COM distributors. Principles Forum via powered boards page multimedia. Corresponding particular Vin conveniently layer addition overheat.
Wow! Have you ever read a computer generated novel about a microcontroller with such suspense, drama, and intrigue!?
And look! You can download it in a variety of formats:
Actually, it’s pretty terrible, unless you are a fan of random acts of writing. If you want some writing that makes sense, take a look at nanowrimo.org, where you can find information about novels written by real people.
If you’re more interested in microcontrollers (specifically the Arduino) maybe you want to read about a Trashcan Accelerometer, or Baker Tweet, or a steampunk bandwidth meter…