Messages

1

Post New Requests Here / Re: VS Code extension to record (and play) coding sessions - P.S. no "video capture"

« on: January 08, 2022, 02:44 AM »

Yes I know the CodeTour extension, and I've also used it.

Though, it's not what I'd like to exist. CodeTour is useful when you have some code fully ready, and you want to explain it to someone or yourself. But it takes quite a lot of time to prepare something well done. Also, you wouldn't make explanations of everything, because it would make a lot of steps. And the step-by-step play feature wouldn't be as enjoyable as looking at the actual code being written and grow.

The extension I'm writing about, instead, would be able to capture one ore more coding sessions, that could also be the whole creation of a project. And it would be able to add captions, audio, etc. attaching them to the timeline of the recording, and keep the creator and also the user able to edit them, add more, modify the code, make cuts to the timeline, etc. The user (who can be the creator himself or another person) would be able to use the "play" feature in order to experience something like the very same coding session/s, with more involvement, full awareness of how and when any line of code is born in the project.

To prepare the "core capture", the creator shouldn't make much more than working at the project as he would, regardless of the fact that there is an extension recording the work. He/she could also think and explain with loud voice while working, using a record audio button. Then he/she could make the play experience better and easier to follow and understand by integrating with more audio explanations, use captions somewhere, make "cuts" (that would actually play the session from one point to another point with infinite speed, thus reducing that part of the timeline to a zero length), and using whatever cool feature the extension will offer.

2

Post New Requests Here / Re: VS Code extension to record (and play) coding sessions - P.S. no "video capture"

« on: January 07, 2022, 02:25 AM »

Thanks for your comment.

I'd like to add some reasoning behind this request:

That would be different from having some "usual" video capture of a coding session: that's a "fully locked" environment, too much detached from the actual experience. The video experience feels not "true", it doesn't create full involvement, and our brain understands and absorbs things with less simplicity when the experience is "detached". One has to be more involved, should be able to scroll up and down through the code in any moment during the "play" experience, should be able to create his own bookmarks and navigate through them, should be able to make little changes to the code and try them, just to figure out something unclear, and then continue, etc.

For example for teaching something, one could prepare a tutorial as a repository with a "recorded coding session" included, to teach how to use that library or that framework etc.
And for learning something new, one could download a recorded coding session and "play" it, with all the features that will be allowed in that kind of experience.

A feature that I would love to be included in such a tool would be the possibility for the recorder to record audio while recording the coding session, and that would be attached to the right points (e.g. a voice comment while writing some lines). And then the possibility to render it in subtitles to, so to enable subtitles in the "play" experience.

Another feature would be a live chat with the session creator, with the possibility to instantly live share the VS Code session with him/her. But that would probably be in the space of monetization possibilities (otherwise it'll be unlikely to find someone ready to reply on the other side), e.g. a learner could one-time pay for 30 minutes of a chat/call session, or make an annual subscription that allows several sessions, etc. And there could be a whole marketplace of free recorded coding sessions for any topic, where the authors could earn from these live on-demand chat/call sessions, and the author/maintainer of the service could keep a cut of that.

This is one of the uses, then there would be others in other fields.
For example, a tool to remind to oneself how something he has written works or should be used: a kind of narrated documentation of the code of projects, that is easier to produce while one is working on it, also with little storage requirements (because everything would be a small JSON) , except the audio files that can anyway be compressed a lot, especially because they're just voice and don't require it to be crystal-clear (I'd prefer small size for this use, something that would keep the whole thing in "some" megabytes).

3

Post New Requests Here / VS Code extension to record (and play) coding sessions - P.S. no "video capture"

« on: January 05, 2022, 11:57 AM »

I'd like to have (and use) a VS Code extension to record (and play) coding sessions.
I mean, not a video capture (like e.g. the Chronicle extension does), but a true record of any event happening in VS Code (writing it e.g. in some JSON file), and a true play back of the same events (with the possibility of pausing, stopping, speed up, slow down, skip 10 seconds forward and backward, etc.).

The closest thing I've found is the "VSCode Hacker Typer" extension by jevakallio (Github), which also has an interesting fork by nodename (Github).

But that doesn't work with multiple files, thus making it just a gimmik - while it would be close to be a useful tool.

There's also a talk by the author (jevakallio):
Writing Code like a Real Hacker - Reactivate London - October 2018 (Youtube)

4

Living Room / Recommend an online community to co-design and create devices for personal use

« on: May 15, 2019, 08:06 AM »

Hello everyone, it's a lot of time I don't write in public on the internet. When something difficult/weird comes to my mind, it happens that I go to DonationCoder.com :)

Here's my difficulty: I'd like to have a device, for personal use at my home, but it doesn't exist - so I can't just purchase it.

It's something that probably technically can be done these days, and I have an overall idea of how to, but can't go from start to finish myself without spending an inappropriate amount of time.

So I thought: it's 2019, the Internet and everything, of course there are communities who "design and build together" things, like software, hardware, etc.
But I'm not sure which could be, for hardware+software devices for personal use.

Thus my question: do you have recommendations? I'd basically would like to post the necessity, and try to contribute as anyone else over time, but hoping that someone smarter than me, together with someone else smarter than him/her, etc. could help with significant progress so to not wait for a lifetime for having it operative on my home's balconies.

The device that I would like to build is something that detects pigeons on balcony with artificial vision and ML, using several cameras and raspberry pi's or whatever, and moves one or more flashlights to point towards the pigeons and try to persuade them to go away. And/Or, moves a robot owl or a robot falcon, that goes towards them, scares them until they go away, and then goes back to the charging station.

5

Living Room / Re: Your favorite cartoons of yesterday and today?

« on: October 28, 2014, 07:30 AM »

Though I used to love watching cartoons, (and have probably forgotten most of them), Futurama would have to be about the only one I'd go out of my way to watch these days.

-4wd (October 26, 2014, 06:04 PM)

Oh sure, Futurama! The Sting, one of many great episodes popping up in my memory.

6

Living Room / Re: Your favorite cartoons of yesterday and today?

« on: October 28, 2014, 06:35 AM »

Some of yesterday:
- Dr. Slump
- Dragonball, Dragonball Z (excluding the "fill episodes")
- NGE
- Batman: The Animated Series

One of today:
- Adventure Time

7

Developer's Corner / Re: Any DC members thinking of trying Kickstarter?

« on: September 04, 2012, 10:25 AM »

https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/about?nodeId=77175#aspd_country

[...] However, bank account and Amazon Payments account balance transfers are enabled only for US based customers. [...]

8

Developer's Corner / Re: Any DC members thinking of trying Kickstarter?

« on: August 24, 2012, 12:02 PM »

 

9

Developer's Corner / Re: Don’t Understimate Language Issues

« on: July 16, 2012, 03:44 AM »

http://readmyemail.b...went-to-detroit.html

-app103 (July 15, 2012, 11:43 PM)

I don't know who's the original author of this great piece of humor, but I very well know it and makes me laugh all the time The video version allows a better understanding:

The Italian Man Who Went To Malta

ROTFL!

PS: The speaker in the video sure is not Italian, I can hear it from the final "arrivederci"

10

Developer's Corner / Don’t Understimate Language Issues

« on: July 15, 2012, 11:51 AM »

"Don’t Understimate Language Issues": that's the title of a blog post by an Italian entrepreneur (and great coder) living in USA.
I'm sharing the link here (hoping it's not too much OT), because I think his candid writing can bring some awareness of this kind of problems, just in case someone is actually underestimating them.

11

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« on: February 17, 2012, 04:45 PM »

Good brainwaves, 4wd, that can all be explored.

Anyway, Image Mirror' author, in the very same day I contacted him, implemented my suggestion: I tested it and replied (it was ok), and in the morning I had a mail announcing that on the website a new fresh release of the software was available. Fantastic.

From my tests, it seems to work very well (I still need to investigate on some problems, but I don't know if they're related to Image Mirror).

Unfortunately, there's no way to avoid the need of two screens, because Image Mirror can only flip a rectangular area that is actually shown somewhere in the desktop.

Making a software capable of just flipping the screen, in Windows, seems to be a very challenging task, if possible.

At the moment, I think Image Mirror is the best solution - of course let me know here if some better solution is found.

12

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« on: February 15, 2012, 07:59 AM »

Contacted the author of Image Mirror:

Hi, I've tried Image Mirror in search of something that could help for a different usage. It's close to what I need, but still not there.

But, trying Image Mirror, I see you could very well be able to make what I'm searching for: could you consider writing such a software (starting from Image Mirror's code), or adding features to Image Mirror?

I would like to paint in whatever software (in Windows), but the screen should be flipped horizontally. It should be tailored to painting, i.e. for responsiveness maybe it could update fast only a small area (around where the pointer is), while the rest of the flipped region could be updated slower.

Also specified a link to this thread.

13

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« on: February 15, 2012, 07:36 AM »

Ok, tests done (Windows XP) - here's the report.
Thank you very much, 4wd: you're an amazing software discoverer!

Mirrorimage seems slow, or anyway not fast enough on my PC for painting usage.

Image Mirror is great for this usage, in extended desktop setup with two monitors: I put the Image Mirror in the second monitor, and the painting app in the first one, choose the right refresh rate, and I get a fast enough mirrored view of what I'm painting.

Still, I'm interested in other findings, both for avoiding the necessity of a second monitor, and to obtain faster responsiveness, i.e. maybe something tailored to painting usage could monitor and update *fast* only a small area (around where the pointer is detected), and slow the rest of the flipped region. In fact, for 90% of the time, painting is about moving the pointer and leaving a trail near there

14

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« on: February 15, 2012, 06:19 AM »

Here's something to try: Image Mirror

-4wd (February 15, 2012, 05:55 AM)

Uhm, not exactly what I need, but maybe I could try it with a two monitors extended desktop setup...

15

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« on: February 15, 2012, 06:09 AM »

No, that wouldn't work.
It's for painting with my graphic tablet under a glass-like surface positioned with a 45 degrees inclination next to a 90 degrees rotated monitor.
The virtual image of the lcd screen lays on the graphic tablet, but the real display should be flipped horizontally in order to see it correctly in the virtual image, and to match the movements of the pen on the tablet.

EDIT: there was no link to Image Mirror while I was writing. I'll look at it.

16

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« on: February 15, 2012, 05:48 AM »

EDIT: Although, after having tried it, (and the attendant reversed mousing), it's actually 180deg rotation not flipping.

-4wd (February 15, 2012, 05:28 AM)

Yes, rotation is quite usual. Flipping (for use with mirror) is not.

17

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« on: February 15, 2012, 05:14 AM »

[...] (per connected monitor) [...]

-Ath (February 15, 2012, 04:50 AM)

Do you mean, it needs a second monitor for the feature to work?

18

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« on: February 15, 2012, 05:13 AM »

No nVidia here, sorry.

19

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« on: February 15, 2012, 03:30 AM »

Sorry for reopening this old topic, but, well - it's 2012 now: is there any software to horizontally flip display in real time, on Windows?

20

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: [Windows, shareware] TreeProjects: organize your information

« on: February 15, 2012, 03:20 AM »

As a happy KeyNote NF user, I know how valuable is your software, and it seems very well done. TreeProjects should be able to quickly and easily transform KeyNote NF stuff into a TreeProjects database, otherwise considering a software change will be hard for anyone with a lot of notes.

21

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea - Whats in my fridge?

« on: November 06, 2011, 11:06 AM »

In Help -> About -> Credits you read:

Special thanks to "Absent Professor" on the DonationCoder forums for the original idea.

...but that should be "Abent Professor"

-insert_nick (November 06, 2011, 08:09 AM)

Nope.  See earlier note about messing up his name in the registration.

-wraith808 (November 06, 2011, 08:27 AM)

Hehe, so "Absent Professor" aka "Abent Professor"

22

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea - Whats in my fridge?

« on: November 06, 2011, 08:09 AM »

In Help -> About -> Credits you read:

Special thanks to "Absent Professor" on the DonationCoder forums for the original idea.

...but that should be "Abent Professor" :)

23

Living Room / Re: Wiki software with authentication

« on: June 13, 2011, 05:10 AM »

Never underestimate the power of Mediawiki, and its huge ecosystem of extensions: when you're searching for something wiki-related, my suggestion is to first have a deep look into it. Example:

http://www.mediawiki...ension:Approved_Revs

And if you can't find an extension, you can always try to code it yourself

24

Living Room / Re: The March 2011 6th Anniversary Fundraiser Has Begun! Cheer for Victory Thread

« on: March 05, 2011, 09:00 AM »

Woah, good! Spicey contest proposal - The Blind Thermometer: stop letting the thermometer show the level reached, and the first donator that reaches exactly, or goes beyond the $6000 level, wins something

25

Developer's Corner / Re: How to Share Your Programs with the World (PAD Files, installers, etc.)

« on: March 03, 2011, 09:47 AM »

Worth noting that the only big problem for the Zero Install project is the low number of apps available as feeds - and that's where DonationCoder could help