SectrPrototype/Readme.md

# Sectr Prototype

This prototype aims to flesh out ideas I've wanted to explore futher on code editing & related tooling.

The things to explore:

* 2D canvas for laying out code visualized in various types of ASTs
* WYSIWYG frontend ASTs
* Making AST editing as versatile as text editing.
* High-performance UI framework designed & built for AST editing.
* Generating a large amount of UI widget boxes with proper auto-layout & no perceptible rendering-lag or input lag for interactions (frametimes stable).
* Model-View-Controller interface between code managed by a 'backend' (both in memory and filesystem) and the UX composition (which has separate filesystem composition).

The project is so far in a "codebase boostrapping" phase.

The project's is organized into 2 modules sectr_host & sectr.
The host module loads the main module & its memory. Hot-reloading it's dll when it detects a change.

The dependencies are:

* Odin Compiler (Slightly custom [fork](https://github.com/Ed94/Odin))
  * Added #region, #endregion directives support for editors
  * I added support for 'monlithic packages' or 'uniform-across-subdirectories packages'. It allows me to organize the main package with sub-directories.
* Odin repo's base, core, and vendor(raylib) libaries
* An ini parser
* backtrace
* Powershell (if you want to use my build scripts)

Major 'codebase modules':

* App : General app config & contextual state
* Engine : client interface for host, tick, update, rendering.
  * Has the following definitions: startup, shutdown, reload, tick, clean_frame (which host hooks up to when managing the client dll)
  * Will handle async ops.
* Font Provider : Manages fonts.
  * Bulk of visualization must be able to render text effectively
  * Going to use some form of caching.
  * Needs to be able to scale text in-realtime to linear values.
* Grime : Name speaks for itself, stuff not directly related to the target features to iterate upon for the prototype.
  * Defining dependency aliases or procedure overload tables, rolling own allocator, data structures, etc.
* Input : All human input related features
  * Base input features (polling & related) are platform abstracted from sokol_app
  * Entirely user rebindable
* Parsers
  * AST generation, editing, and serialization.
  * Parsers for different levels of "synatitic & semantic awareness", Formatting -> Domain Specific AST
  * Figure out pragmatic transformations between ASTs.
* Project : Encpasulation of user config/context/state separate from persistent app's
  * Manages the codebase (database & model view controller)
  * Manages workspaces : View compositions of the codebase
* UI : Core graphic user interface framework, AST visualzation & editing, backend visualization
  * PIMGUI (Persistent Immediate Mode User Interface)
  * Auto-layout
  * Supports heavy procedural generation of box widgets
  * Viewports
  * Docking/Tiling, Floating, Canvas

Due to the nature of the prototype there are 'sub-groups' such as the codebase being its own ordeal as well as the workspace.
They'll be elaborated in their own documentation

## Gallery

![img](docs/assets/sectr_host_2024-03-09_04-30-27.png)
![img](docs/assets/sectr_host_2024-05-04_12-29-39.png)
![img](docs/assets/Code_2024-05-04_12-55-53.png)
![img](docs/assets/sectr_host_2024-05-11_22-34-15.png)
![img](docs/assets/sectr_host_2024-05-15_03-32-36.png)
![img](docs/assets/Code_2024-05-21_23-15-16.gif)
Dragging! & basic proportional box resize frm cursor distance to box pos Still need to add resize via 'pulling' to stretch the box out from a side or 2 sides diagonally. Also some general clenaup of code 2024-03-08 00:34:21 -08:00			`# Sectr Prototype`

typos and buildscript fixes & additions 2024-05-16 14:51:14 -07:00			`This prototype aims to flesh out ideas I've wanted to explore futher on code editing & related tooling.`
Dragging! & basic proportional box resize frm cursor distance to box pos Still need to add resize via 'pulling' to stretch the box out from a side or 2 sides diagonally. Also some general clenaup of code 2024-03-08 00:34:21 -08:00
Started to do manual control of the frame timing (no longer using raylib) 2024-03-08 15:45:08 -08:00			`The things to explore:`

			`* 2D canvas for laying out code visualized in various types of ASTs`
			`* WYSIWYG frontend ASTs`
			`* Making AST editing as versatile as text editing.`
typos and buildscript fixes & additions 2024-05-16 14:51:14 -07:00			`* High-performance UI framework designed & built for AST editing.`
			`* Generating a large amount of UI widget boxes with proper auto-layout & no perceptible rendering-lag or input lag for interactions (frametimes stable).`
Update readme 2024-05-04 08:52:52 -07:00			`* Model-View-Controller interface between code managed by a 'backend' (both in memory and filesystem) and the UX composition (which has separate filesystem composition).`
Started to do manual control of the frame timing (no longer using raylib) 2024-03-08 15:45:08 -08:00
Dragging! & basic proportional box resize frm cursor distance to box pos Still need to add resize via 'pulling' to stretch the box out from a side or 2 sides diagonally. Also some general clenaup of code 2024-03-08 00:34:21 -08:00			`The project is so far in a "codebase boostrapping" phase.`

Started to do manual control of the frame timing (no longer using raylib) 2024-03-08 15:45:08 -08:00			`The project's is organized into 2 modules sectr_host & sectr.`
Dragging! & basic proportional box resize frm cursor distance to box pos Still need to add resize via 'pulling' to stretch the box out from a side or 2 sides diagonally. Also some general clenaup of code 2024-03-08 00:34:21 -08:00			`The host module loads the main module & its memory. Hot-reloading it's dll when it detects a change.`

Started to do manual control of the frame timing (no longer using raylib) 2024-03-08 15:45:08 -08:00			`The dependencies are:`

Restructured the codebase yet again but this time with compiler support for monlithic packages So no need to stage generate symbolic links in a flat directory for the compiler 2024-05-16 14:27:15 -07:00			`* Odin Compiler (Slightly custom [fork](https://github.com/Ed94/Odin))`
Added a script automatically generating a virtual view using symbol links of the codebase So I can finally have some folders for organization 2024-05-12 13:02:38 -07:00			`* Added #region, #endregion directives support for editors`
typos and buildscript fixes & additions 2024-05-16 14:51:14 -07:00			`* I added support for 'monlithic packages' or 'uniform-across-subdirectories packages'. It allows me to organize the main package with sub-directories.`
Started to do manual control of the frame timing (no longer using raylib) 2024-03-08 15:45:08 -08:00			`* Odin repo's base, core, and vendor(raylib) libaries`
			`* An ini parser`
Mostly cleanup Text is athe biggest bottleneck right now. Raylib as a renderer fails for this prototype in that front. I'll eventually need to look into other solutions such as SDL2 + something that renders UI boxes & text very fast... 2024-05-13 18:53:08 -07:00			`* backtrace`
Modifiaitons to build script I only keep the generated code_compiler_staged dir around if there are errors compiling 2024-05-16 10:35:03 -07:00			`* Powershell (if you want to use my build scripts)`
Started to do manual control of the frame timing (no longer using raylib) 2024-03-08 15:45:08 -08:00
Modifiaitons to build script I only keep the generated code_compiler_staged dir around if there are errors compiling 2024-05-16 10:35:03 -07:00			`Major 'codebase modules':`
Started to do manual control of the frame timing (no longer using raylib) 2024-03-08 15:45:08 -08:00
Starting the process of porting VEFontCache 2024-06-02 14:29:44 -07:00			`* App : General app config & contextual state`
			`* Engine : client interface for host, tick, update, rendering.`
Modifiaitons to build script I only keep the generated code_compiler_staged dir around if there are errors compiling 2024-05-16 10:35:03 -07:00			`* Has the following definitions: startup, shutdown, reload, tick, clean_frame (which host hooks up to when managing the client dll)`
Starting the process of porting VEFontCache 2024-06-02 14:29:44 -07:00			`* Will handle async ops.`
Started to do manual control of the frame timing (no longer using raylib) 2024-03-08 15:45:08 -08:00			`* Font Provider : Manages fonts.`
Starting the process of porting VEFontCache 2024-06-02 14:29:44 -07:00			`* Bulk of visualization must be able to render text effectively`
			`* Going to use some form of caching.`
			`* Needs to be able to scale text in-realtime to linear values.`
Mostly cleanup Text is athe biggest bottleneck right now. Raylib as a renderer fails for this prototype in that front. I'll eventually need to look into other solutions such as SDL2 + something that renders UI boxes & text very fast... 2024-05-13 18:53:08 -07:00			`* Grime : Name speaks for itself, stuff not directly related to the target features to iterate upon for the prototype.`
			`* Defining dependency aliases or procedure overload tables, rolling own allocator, data structures, etc.`
Large refactor of the entire codebase Saw that layout really should be separated from the style struct, so went ahead and pulled the trigger... A bunch of other refactors have also been done * Lifted layout out of style, its not separate in UI_Box and in UI_State there is not a UI_LayoutCombo stack. * UI_StyleTheme renamed to UI_StyleCombo * UI_Theme has both UI_StyleCombo & UI_LayoutCombo * Made files for the "project" related code * ui_layout_compute moved to its own file, ui_layout now used for layout related data structures and interfacing * Impovements to horizontal & vertical box impl * UI_Box now keeps track of how many ancestors it has 2024-05-11 19:38:05 -07:00			`* Input : All human input related features`
Starting the process of porting VEFontCache 2024-06-02 14:29:44 -07:00			`* Base input features (polling & related) are platform abstracted from sokol_app`
			`* Entirely user rebindable`
			`* Parsers`
			`* AST generation, editing, and serialization.`
			`* Parsers for different levels of "synatitic & semantic awareness", Formatting -> Domain Specific AST`
			`* Figure out pragmatic transformations between ASTs.`
			`* Project : Encpasulation of user config/context/state separate from persistent app's`
			`* Manages the codebase (database & model view controller)`
Large refactor of the entire codebase Saw that layout really should be separated from the style struct, so went ahead and pulled the trigger... A bunch of other refactors have also been done * Lifted layout out of style, its not separate in UI_Box and in UI_State there is not a UI_LayoutCombo stack. * UI_StyleTheme renamed to UI_StyleCombo * UI_Theme has both UI_StyleCombo & UI_LayoutCombo * Made files for the "project" related code * ui_layout_compute moved to its own file, ui_layout now used for layout related data structures and interfacing * Impovements to horizontal & vertical box impl * UI_Box now keeps track of how many ancestors it has 2024-05-11 19:38:05 -07:00			`* Manages workspaces : View compositions of the codebase`
			`* UI : Core graphic user interface framework, AST visualzation & editing, backend visualization`
Fixed issue with ui_signal_from_box Biggest win was getting the intial fixes for overlapping boxes. Eventually I'll need to add support for sorting actives of top-most ancestors (pretty much just remove from linked list and add to last position (adjust indices of adjacent and new top most, etc) 2024-05-10 01:16:04 -07:00			`* PIMGUI (Persistent Immediate Mode User Interface)`
Large refactor of the entire codebase Saw that layout really should be separated from the style struct, so went ahead and pulled the trigger... A bunch of other refactors have also been done * Lifted layout out of style, its not separate in UI_Box and in UI_State there is not a UI_LayoutCombo stack. * UI_StyleTheme renamed to UI_StyleCombo * UI_Theme has both UI_StyleCombo & UI_LayoutCombo * Made files for the "project" related code * ui_layout_compute moved to its own file, ui_layout now used for layout related data structures and interfacing * Impovements to horizontal & vertical box impl * UI_Box now keeps track of how many ancestors it has 2024-05-11 19:38:05 -07:00			`* Auto-layout`
			`* Supports heavy procedural generation of box widgets`
Starting the process of porting VEFontCache 2024-06-02 14:29:44 -07:00			`* Viewports`
			`* Docking/Tiling, Floating, Canvas`
Large refactor of the entire codebase Saw that layout really should be separated from the style struct, so went ahead and pulled the trigger... A bunch of other refactors have also been done * Lifted layout out of style, its not separate in UI_Box and in UI_State there is not a UI_LayoutCombo stack. * UI_StyleTheme renamed to UI_StyleCombo * UI_Theme has both UI_StyleCombo & UI_LayoutCombo * Made files for the "project" related code * ui_layout_compute moved to its own file, ui_layout now used for layout related data structures and interfacing * Impovements to horizontal & vertical box impl * UI_Box now keeps track of how many ancestors it has 2024-05-11 19:38:05 -07:00
			`Due to the nature of the prototype there are 'sub-groups' such as the codebase being its own ordeal as well as the workspace.`
			`They'll be elaborated in their own documentation`
Update readme 2024-05-04 08:52:52 -07:00
Updates to readme 2024-05-04 09:59:08 -07:00			`## Gallery`

			`![img](docs/assets/sectr_host_2024-03-09_04-30-27.png)`
			`![img](docs/assets/sectr_host_2024-05-04_12-29-39.png)`
			`![img](docs/assets/Code_2024-05-04_12-55-53.png)`
Large refactor of the entire codebase Saw that layout really should be separated from the style struct, so went ahead and pulled the trigger... A bunch of other refactors have also been done * Lifted layout out of style, its not separate in UI_Box and in UI_State there is not a UI_LayoutCombo stack. * UI_StyleTheme renamed to UI_StyleCombo * UI_Theme has both UI_StyleCombo & UI_LayoutCombo * Made files for the "project" related code * ui_layout_compute moved to its own file, ui_layout now used for layout related data structures and interfacing * Impovements to horizontal & vertical box impl * UI_Box now keeps track of how many ancestors it has 2024-05-11 19:38:05 -07:00			`![img](docs/assets/sectr_host_2024-05-11_22-34-15.png)`
Began working on a proper default theme Going with dark mode at first, I'll also be making a lightmode, but I want to have a post-processing shader for tonemapping the app screen's tone by the user before doing so. 2024-05-15 00:34:52 -07:00			`![img](docs/assets/sectr_host_2024-05-15_03-32-36.png)`
Mostly reviewing progress so far Prepping in the background for swapping raylib with sokol. 2024-05-21 20:35:36 -07:00			`![img](docs/assets/Code_2024-05-21_23-15-16.gif)`