Tangle meets the Canon Cat

[David Young]

Tanglers,

When I first saw Tangle, it brought to mind the Canon Cat computer
created by Jef Raskin and his colleagues at Information Appliance, Inc.
In the Cat environment, you could type a formula into a document, select
it, and evaluate it in situ. One formula could refer to another, as in
a spreadsheet, but you were not restricted to rows and columns. Rather,
you could create a freeform document with figures and formulae wherever
they belonged.

Inspired by the Cat and by the vision in Raskin's book, _The Humane
Interface_, I am prototyping a computing environment that marries direct
manipulation with composition of simple programs (a la UNIX). It's
early days for the prototype. Nevertheless, I have enough finished
that I can write a document with embedded formulae, and then explore
different scenarios by dragging with the mouse.

I have recorded a demonstration where I write a budget estimate and
then make adjustments, https://vimeo.com/172032647 . I hope you enjoy
watching the video as much as I enjoyed making it!

Dave

--
David Young //\ Trestle Technology Consulting
(217) 721-9981 Urbana, IL http://trestle.tech/