
This is amazing. HTML5. No Flash. No Java. Works on iPhone. - mikecane
http://cimota.com/blog/2010/03/09/amazing/
======
pavlov
Nice design, the brush shapes are pretty.

But honestly, this is the kind of application which used to be provided as a
demonstration of Turbo Pascal's graphics library in 1990... Multiplying some
lines into a greyscale buffer on mouse events was perfectly feasible on a 286
+ VGA.

Meanwhile in 2010, Flash Player 10 can render 300K 3D particles in software:
<http://www.unitzeroone.com/labs/alchemyPushingPixels>

~~~
daleharvey
this is the kind of argument which was used to demonstrate how inadequate pcs
where compares to mainframes in the 80's.

Apologies for any snarkiness :) but we are going to hear about how much canvas
sucks compares to opengl whatever until it surpasses it, and probably still
then.

~~~
pavlov
_this is the kind of argument which was used to demonstrate how inadequate pcs
where compares to mainframes in the 80's._

So you mean '80s mainframes were actually PCs, but they had a faster virtual
machine, better language support and a more expansive standard library?
Because, you know, both the Canvas demo and the Flash demo run on the same
hardware...

Don't get me wrong, I really like Canvas. But it's harmful to pretend that
it's a Flash replacement, when Flash still does a lot more and also has
authoring tools that allow actual content to be produced by design
professionals.

~~~
daleharvey
no I mean that flash is a proprietary runtime that can change at the whim of a
company, is badly supported on niche platforms, and is terribly hard to
introspect.

building open standards is an order of magnitude harder, on the face flash may
seem so much more powerful, but taking into account the massive implications
of open vs propietary its easy to understand why it is that way, and why its
worth pushing things like canvas to be half as powerful as flash is now.

~~~
WilliamLP
> no I mean that flash is a proprietary runtime that can change at the whim of
> a company,

Are you very sure that if JS and HTML5 authoring tools became good enough (as
Flash is) to threaten Apple's business in selling and fully controlling iPhone
and iPad apps, that they wouldn't or couldn't change compatibility at a whim?

Running on iPhone is the one major advantage this has. (Not being an open
platform... It's anything but an advantage when it won't even run on IE in the
foreseeable future.)

~~~
daleharvey
I am pretty sure since apple are one of a few companies really pushing html5
and javascript right now, the html5 support for mobile webkit is pretty top
notch.

I dont undestand why people think the appstore is apples business, they havent
made any money from the appstore, they do however make an awful lot of money
selling hardware, but this is for another thread.

~~~
WilliamLP
> I dont undestand why people think the appstore is apples business,

They sure seem fiercely intent on having total control over app developers on
the platform though, don't they? Currently JS and HTML5 has very close to zero
demonstrated potential to be a viable alternative to creating and distributing
the kind of apps that are on the appstore. Again, are you really _sure_ that
if it matures to the point where this isn't true any more, Apple wouldn't do
something about it? If you are sure, you're naive. Regardless of Apple's
intentions (you can think they're Good Samaritans who want to protect users
from poorly performing Flash apps if you wish), if there's one thing they've
shown is that they really really want total control in that particular space.

------
amadiver
That is some amazing blog spam.

<http://mrdoob.com/lab/javascript/harmony/>

~~~
ivankirigin
I made the koolaide dude without really thinking about what I was getting into
at first. [http://giantrobotlasers.com/post/437605692/i-made-the-
koolai...](http://giantrobotlasers.com/post/437605692/i-made-the-koolaide-
dude-almost-by-accident-using)

~~~
kordless
Evidently the admins disapprove of your Koolaide dude.

~~~
ivankirigin
Sometimes you need to suffer for your art

------
tdoggette
The actual item (link is a blog with a couple of screenshots and no content
other than the title): <http://mrdoob.com/lab/javascript/harmony/>

~~~
mikecane
Yes, I did that so people could see what the app was before deciding if they
wanted to try it. And since someone here has reported a connection error, it
seems the app itself is getting hammered.

~~~
Nwallins
Actually, it looks like _the blog_ is having problems. The direct link seems
to load fine.

~~~
mikecane
Yeah, the guy just told me his blog is not responding now. Oops! I must
rethink speedbumping like that in future.

~~~
swombat
Speedbumping?

~~~
mikecane
I was hoping that people would see the screensnap at that blog and THEN decide
if they'd go on to the site itself. It never occurred to me there'd be a flood
of people who'd click through and kill the site I pointed to. Plus, I figured
some people might be on a mobile device and not see the site itself, so they
could at least look at a screensnap. I will never do that again.

~~~
swombat
No worries, don't beat yourself up, you didn't do anything wrong. I was just
wondering what you meant by speedbumping.

~~~
mikecane
I am beating myself up. I didn't mean to kill his blog!

------
cookiecaper
This is nice, but there are many more HTML5 examples at
<http://www.chromeexperiments.com> , and most of them are much more "amazing"
than the linked app.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
One of the top 4 (not sure if it's 2nd or 4th) by rating for me is the linked
demo in the OP, FWIW.

------
whyenot
"Error Establishing a Database Connection"

I don't know about the amazing part, but you're right, it does work without
flash or java! :)

------
dbz
Please don't downvote for posting what I found, only for disagreeing with my
upcoming opinion: Forbidden You don't have permission to access
/blog/2010/03/09/amazing/ on this server.

I hate it when I get this message. HN should kill links with server errors.

~~~
mikecane
If I still had edit access to the submission, I would have changed the link to
go directly to the site (see Comment below). It seems his site has been taken
offline temporarily due to bandwidth issues/costs. _head desk_

------
tripngroove
This is the most usable drawing/painting app I've ever tried. There's
something in its constrained, simple functionality that's very freeing. I've
been playing with this for hours. All I need to do now is hack it to add
colors.

------
redstar504
Really? A Permissions error with HTML 5? Let me in on your secret!!!!

------
Sephr
It also works on other touch-screen devices with recent WebKit builds too that
support touch events, such as Android. I helped mrdoob by suggesting various
improvements including the usage of touch events.

------
mikecane
You guys have BUSTED the site at the link!!

And I can't edit this post. Use THIS link:

<http://mrdoob.com/lab/javascript/harmony/>

------
ghosttrails
Try it in Firefox and then in Chrome - really shows the JS speed advantages of
Google's browser (at least for this).

------
dpcan
Don't confuse "No Java" with "No Javascript".

I feel like this post is trying to be tricky in its wording.

------
olalonde
It would be cool if it was possible to automatically save to an image host.

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Qz
Site won't load for me -- is it iPhone _only_?

~~~
glhaynes
It's being _served_ from an iPhone. :)

~~~
Qz
It worked for me eventually -- actually pretty awesome and I made some killer
sketches in under 5 minutes each.

------
davisml
This is not amazing.

------
prgmatic
Site is not loading

