World: r4wp

http://www.rebol.com/r3/chat.r

That's what we see with "source chat" in R3

The thing is that a more widely useful chat/collaboration feature 
implies a very good UI. That's not something that we have too many 
people capable of at the moment.

That is just the front end.

Nick, did you see my post here of a few days ago on Algodoo?

There's a reason for me asking...

Yep, I looked at it briefly.  Definitely a cool addition to the sorts 
of "modern" things Doc and other have been looking at.

REBOL and Red needs any sort of "sparkle" possible to make people 
take a look.

What's your reason?

Well, my greater point with it is its involvement in education. Your 
chat just now, with Scot and James, made me think some more about 
it.

They, Algoryx, already seem to have a pretty good foothold in education.

Promoting Rebol to them, along with a chat/collaboration feature, 
just makes sense, both for them and for Rebol.

or Red for that matter, but it's not quite there yet.

You should take a look at what Scot has been saying tonight...

I'm thinking that maybe approaching them with the benefits of using 
Rebol as the buil-in scripting language with the possibility of sponsoring 
the chat/collaborative features, might be attractive.

I read all that. It's what made me think this is a good idea, even 
more than before.

From what I have observed, and what Scot was saying, is that we need 
something that is already built but which allows educators to educate.

The number of teachers I know that actually can code is quite small.

That's Scot's idea, but attracting more people to writing REBOL code, 
in any way, is a good thing.

Yes, I agree.

I like the idea of Algodoo, just because it's got some "flashy"ness

If you see the amount of scripting that's been done for Algodoo, 
you'd be impressed - and that language has nowhere near Rebol's strengths.

So, what I'm saying is that given a stimulating environment, like 
Algodoo, for example, people will code quite a lot.

Is it possible to integrate REBOL as a scripting language, without 
too much trouble?

Couldn't tell you, but in an indirect way, I would think that Rebol 
would be easier to do than quite a few other languages. This is because 
the current scripting language, Thyme, is very much Lua-like.

Have you or anyone at Algoryx looked at what's required?  I didn't 
look into it that far.

Is it a not a gui-based tool?

No, haven't looked myself, but I know from reading things here and 
there, that Emil has the idea of re-working/re-thinking the scripting 
language.

So, I would think a conversation with him would be worthwhile.

If you can speak with him, and get some technical details, maybe 
there's some potential, especially if he gets help from the group.

If they felt that some other entity would sponsor at least part of 
the work (on the assumption that what gets created is then made available 
to the Rebol community), they might be interested.

First step is to find out how big a project it is...

Sure. There are different milestones for a language integration. 
The first, to get the language hooked up to the API is probably not 
a huge effort. The second, to make existing projects work in the 
new language, is a different matter.

Anyhow, that's one place where we could push. Another is the Khan 
Academy. What's your opinion of them?

The TED videos about Khan Academy are inspiring.

James, Algodoo is very graphical simulation tool, but is very scriptable 
(the current language used is called thyme).

And they seem to have some marketing savvy

Well, they chose to, for now use JavaScript to teach programming

They're backed by the Gates foundation

I would think with something like a Topaz, i.e. Rebol in a browser, 
they could have something much greater.

Better to get the attention of the Gates foundation ;)

John Resig, the jQuery guy, now works for them. They've hired some 
top people.

As interesting as it sounds, I'd never heard of Algodoo.  REBOL needs 
some support by groups with reach.

I'd urge you to just download it and try it. If you love Rebol, I 
guarantee you'll love Algodoo.

I imagine I probably would enjoy it, but me liking it isn't related 
to how much a relationship with them would help improve REBOL's reach.

My connection dropped...

I agree, promotion/evangelism of Rebol is what we want to pursue.

But having polished examples of apps in important fields, like education, 
is key.

Algodoo, is pretty slick. Both in what it does and in looks.

Anyhow, it's one possibility that I'll try to move along.