IntegraWorks - My (unrealistically big) idea for a program

Brief description

Another good reason for using plug-in technology is nesting. For example, a math equation can be inside a commutative diagram, which in turn is embedded in your document's text. Another example would be a math graph, which can contain equations in its heading and axis labels. OK, so I have a bias towards math!! But there are lots of other examples of nesting too.

Just imagine it! A word-processing program that handles just about anything!

Similarities with other programs

TeX:

• It will have TeX's paragraph formatting algorithm. This looks ahead to try to minimize any ugly paragraph formatting, rather than working out the length of each line one at a time.
• This algorithm also includes a procedure for automatic hyphenation on a more general level than just English (although probably not general enough for all languages).
• It will allow you to insert mathematical formulae into the text with the same ease as TeX. It should all be able to be done using the keyboard, similar to how the $ symbol starts and stops the formula in TeX.

Microsoft Word

• Microsoft Word has "objects", such as formulae, graphs, and drawings, which you can insert into the document. Double-clicking on an object switches you to the appropriate editor so you can edit it. I propose to have similar embedded objects, but switching editors will be lightning quick, and automatic (no double-clicking).
• As in Microsoft Word, you will see text laid out on the page immediately as you type. However, in IntegraWorks you will see ANY type of data appear on the page as you type. Microsoft Word only does this with text.

ClarisWorks

• ClarisWorks 3 has the ability to include spreadsheets and paintings inside your text document. Switching between text and spreadsheet/paint modes is automatic, very similar to what I propose. In Claris Works 4, this concept has been formalized to "Frames". Here you have to click twice to switch editors and you can only create, not edit, paintings. The extra click in version 4 does have its merits - the first click selects the entire object so that it can be deleted in its entirety.

Every imaginable plug-in

• Text. You might not at first think of ordinary plain text as being an object, but it is!
• Mathematical formula. Very similar to the editor that comes with Microsoft Word.
• Mathematical graph. Type in an equation, and it will be graphed! You can label and number axes, specify domain and range, and add asymptotes, points, and labels.
• Statistical graph. Give it some data, and it will produce a histogram, pie-chart, or 3-dimensional plot.
• MacDraw-style drawing. You can draw lines, arrows, Bezier curves, (circular) arcs, and rectangles, and if desired fill them with patterns. You will also be able to add other objects inside the picture, such as text or formulae.
• MacPaint-style painting. You can draw a picture with an e-paintbrush using the mouse. Instead of being stored as lines and curves as with a drawing, a painting is stored as pixels.
• Spreadsheet. Add a spreadsheet to your document! This would be a handy way to add a table, but would also allow you to do calculations.
• Sheet music editor. (This is a biggie!) Any sheet music, whether a simple tune on a single staff, or a full-blown score. For songs, you can add words underneath the notes, or chord names or guitar fret diagrams above the notes.
• Chord name editor. This would be useful to insert inside a piece of sheet music. You can create chords such as Ab-sus7 (where b=flat).
• Guitar fret editor. This would produce a little diagram showing finger placement on a guitar, as well as showing open strings, stopped strings, and capo or Barre chord position.
• Japanese text editor. Or any other non-Roman language.
• IPA editor. Phonetic pronunciation can be added to your document using an International Phonetic Alphabet object.
• ... and many others.

• Text block. A text block object is what does the line-wrapping. A normal document would consist of one large text block, with other objects (eg. a text object) inside it.
• Multi-column block. Multiple columns would be implemented as multi-column block, with a text object (or whatever) inside it.
• Vertical text block. This would be useful for writing Japanese text in traditional vertical layout.

Implementation

• the "driving engine" of the program which is the line-breaking and page-breaking algorithm (taken from TeX, whose (ugly) source is in the public domain),
• the "user-interface engine" which takes the user's input, and displays the stuff in WYSIWYG form, and
• the plug-in modules, which would send/receive information to/from the two "engines" when requested. Each type of object the user can create (eg text, diagram etc) will be implemented in a separate plug-in module.

I would use C++ for this, since speed is essential, and the task is well suited to object programming. I would start off doing it for the Mac, but when it is working there, I would port it to Windows 2000 (yeah, I assume that the new century will be in before I'm anywhere near done!).

The code for each type of embedded object should ideally be in a separate plug-in file, so that new types of objects can be created by other software developers. The C++ interface for writing object editors should be well documented, so that it is easy for developers to write these.

Last updated: Sept 22, 1998