Introducing Pictish, an image-processing library for web browsers

Boy, between RaphaëlTS, SHA-1, and Haeckel, I've been releasing an awful lot of TypeScript/JavaScript libraries lately, haven't I? Anyway, here's another!

Pictish

A Library for Processing Binary Image Data

Pictish takes advantage of canvas elements and Typed Arrays to provide fast routines for processing raster image data. Here is a rundown of the currently available functions:

• createImageData()
• fromFile()
• fromHTMLImage()
• crop()
• flipX()
• flipY()
• scaleDown()
• quarter()
• silhouettize()

All of these functions have been tested and optimized. More information is available in the documentation at the BitBucket site. Note that since canvas elements and Typed Arrays are based on more recent specifications, not all browsers support it. (For what it's worth, I've been testing in Chrome.)

(The sharp-eyed may notice that last function and wonder if it might have something to do with another project of mine. The answer is yes.)

Next planned step is to create a PNG file encoder — that could take a while, though.

PhyloPainter: Happy Little Trees

The whole Flash/Apple fracas has been rather distasteful to me. But I'm not going to dwell on that right now. Instead, I am trying to keep an open mind by trying out some of the technologies that are competing with my favored development tools. First up: HTML 5.

I'll probably write more on the topic later, but suffice to say for now that working HTML 5 feels like I've traveled in time back to 2001, the days of ActionScript 1.0. JavaScript is a poor language for anything complicated. Canvas has covered the basics of vector drawing well, but little else. That said, I see potential and I'm pretty certain the tools will improve.

For my first HTML 5 app, I ported some basic functionality from Names on Nodes, namely, the ability to read Newick tree strings and the ability to draw graphs. I give you:

PhyloPainter

It's a bit rough right now. For one thing, it doesn't work in Internet Explorer (despite the inclusion of a workaround JavaScript tool—the current version of IE doesn't support HTML 5 Canvas). But it's a start.

Give it a try—paint some happy little trees!