I was recently using a python package called OpenPyXl. It's a package that let me control and write to Excel and I'm trying to understand how something like that even works. How can Python and Excel "talk" to each other? I had a few questions regrading this topic, I hadn't been able to find definitive answers to.
From what I understand after reading a bit, Python must be talking to Excel through some API that the developer (in this case Microsoft I guess) made available for use. Is that generally how software which controls/interacts with other software works?
Without an API are you generally unable to interact with software through your own code? Let's say I wanted to write a program that could play the game solitaire on my windows machine, without Microsoft creating a specific API that makes it possible so some code I write can "talk" to Solitaire, would my only option be some sort of program that attempts to actually visually read and comprehend my screen, and control the mouse to implement moves?
I'm just trying to understand how various pieces of software can interact with each other, thus far my only experience has really only been in self contained scripts, and I don't fully understand if every program has some sort of.
If for instance, I had to write a bot to play solitaire, I don't even know where I would begin, and I just want to have a better understanding of how the pieces fit together.
Related
Can someone guide me as googling does not send me to the right places.
I want to adapt netlogo to include players real or simulated with other technologies. I need to interface the netlogo core (running an established game) and have the moves and choices determined by the external entities, which may be human or automania.
In searching for the API to allow this, I can find is the controlling API which is seems to be for running NetLogo muitiple runs of a model and not what I want.
And please before you close this again suggest how I can make this more focused as the problem is finding the starting point....
Can anyone assist.
Regards
Robert
There are two main ways to interface between NetLogo and the "outside world":
The extensions API.
The controlling API.
Which one to use depends on what you're trying to achieve.
You say that you:
need to interface the netlogo core (running an established game) and have the moves and choices determined by the external entities, which may be human or automania.
That, to me, sounds very much like a job for the extensions API, which is what has been suggested to you on the netlogo-devel group. Extensions allow to add new "primitives" to NetLogo, and those primitives can be written in any language that runs on the JVM (Java, Scala, Clojure, etc.)
So if you have a game written in NetLogo and a bot written in some other language that the JVM can interface with (possibly by using the JNI), you could write a new NetLogo extension command that calls out to the bot (e.g., something like bot:play game-state). A game written in NetLogo could then use that command to let the bot play its turn.
If that is indeed what you want to do, then Jeremy has already given you a good starting point in his netlogo-devel answer, and there is not much we can add to this until you have more specific questions.
You also said, however, that you looked at using the controlling API, so maybe what you had in mind is to have a game written in some other language, and use a NetLogo model to generate the behaviour of a particular player in that game. The controlling API allows you to do that. (It's not just for running a model multiple times!) If you look at the examples in the controlling guide, you'll see that you can use the API to send commands to a NetLogo model and to report the results back to your external program. The only constraint is that this external program needs to be able to talk to the JVM.
If you don't think this answers you question, please try to give us a concrete example of a precise thing that you want to do but do not think can be achieve in one of these two ways. We might be able to help you better than.
So I've got a project at work which involves biometric authentication. From my reading I understand this is a giant mess with lots of vendor-specific methods of doing things, but I have looked in to a few solutions. I managed to get authentication against Windows user accounts working through the Windows Biometric Framework, but this is far from ideal. Really I'd like to either retrieve the raw image of the print so I can process it myself using openAFIS or a similar library, or get some sort of unique key or other hash value which could be used to identify the user. I understand this is possible via WBF and WinBioCaptureSample but I haven't played with it yet. I'm happy to work in almost any programming language, although preferably C# or Java, and preferably not C++ since I'm far from an expert (building an interop for WBF nearly killed me!)
Really I'd like to hear from anyone who's ever implemented a system involving fingerprints and how you went about it! I'm trying to avoid expensive SDKs (and most of them are very expensive) but if there's a cheap one out there that works I'd be happy to pay for it.
As far as hardware, I have access to two sensors right now both based on the Authentec AES1610, although the hardware for the final project hasn't been acquired yet and can therefore be anything - whatever's easiest! I'm assuming contacting Authentec for details on their SDK would be futile since their developer page says they're no longer offering it :/
So... thoughts?
I know this sounds a little bizarre, but there is a very simple application I want to write, a sort of unique image viewer, which requires some interactivity with the host system at the user level. Simplicity when developing is a must as this is a very small side project. The project does require some amount of graphical work and quite a bit of mouse based interactivity (as well as some keyboard shortcuts), but quite frankly, I don't want to dig my hands into OGL for something this small. I looked at the available options, and I think I've narrowed it down to two main choices: Webkit (through either QtWebkit or WebkitGtk), and the language Processing.
Since I haven't actually used Processing but I do have some amount of HTML5 canvas and Javascript experience, I am somewhat tempted to using a Webkit based solution. There are however, several concerns I have.
How is Webkit's support for canvas, specifically for more graphically intensive processes?
I've heard that bridging is handled better in QtWebkit than WebkitGtk. Is this still true?
To what degree can bridging actually do? Can a Webkit based application do everything that an application which interacts with the files on the system needs?
Looking at Processing, there are similarly, a couple things I'm wondering.
Processing is known for its graphical capabilities, but how capable is it for writing a general everyday desktop application?
There are many sources that link Processing to Java, both in lineage as well as in distributing applications over the web (ie: JApplets). Is the "Application Export" similarly closely integrated with Java?
As for directly comparing the two, the main concern I do have is the overhead of each. I want the application to start up as snappy as possible, and I know that Java has a bit of an overhead regarding start up because it first has to start up the interpreter. How do Processing and QtWebkit/WebkitGtk compare for start up?
Note that I am targeting the Linux platform only.
Thanks!
It's difficult to give a specific answer, because you're actually asking a few different kind of questions - and some of them you could be more precise.
Processing is a subset or child of java - it's really "just" a java framework with an free ide that hides the messy setup work of building an applet, so that a user can dive in and write something quickly without getting bogged down in widgets and ui, etc. So processing can exist by itself and the end user needs to know nothing of Java (except syntax - processing is java, so the user must learn java syntax).
But a programmer who already knows java can exploit the fun quick nature of processing and then leverage their normal java experience for whatever else is needed - everything of java is in processing, just a maybe slightly hidden (but only at first) It's also possible to import the processing.jars into an existing java program and use them there. See http://processing.org/learning/eclipse/ form more information.
"how capable is it for writing a general everyday desktop application?" - Not particularly on it's own (it's not made to be), but some things are possible and easy (i.e. file saving & loading, non-standard gui, etc.), and in some ways it's similar to old school actionscript or lingo. There is a library called controlP5 that makes gui stuff a bit easier.
Webkit is another kettle of fish, especially if you aren't making a web-based thing (it sounds like you're thinking on using the webkit libraries as part of a larger program. I'll admit I don't have the dev expertise with those specific libraries to give you the answer you really want, but I'm pretty certain that unless you have programming experience beyond html5/javascript you'll probably get going much faster with processing.
Good luck with whichever path you choose!
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I have recently heard about Magic programming language from several sources and didn't recall ever hearing about it before. It was mentioned that it is a programming language from Israel.
I did some googling and couldn't find much information about it. I couldn't find any code examples, and wikipedia didn't have any information on it either.
I think this is the site for it http://www.magicsoftware.com/en/products/?catID=70 though I am not sure, as it mentions uniPaaS instead of magic. However other material on the site indicates that this is the new name for it.
I was interested in learning more about it from it's practitioners, rather than the company. I saw several claims on the internet that it provided really fast application development, similar to claims made by RoR proponents when it came out.
How does it compare to VB?
Is it still a better RAD tool than current .net or mvc frameworks like django, ror ...etc?
How hard is it to learn?
If you can post some sample code it would be most helpful as well.
Could this site be it? Though it links back to the page above.
You're right my friend, Magic is the original name of the "programming language", nowadays is called UniPaaS (Uni Platform as a Service), I use it to develop some business application. Maybe is the fastest way to create an applications(data manipulation), you can create apps in just a few days, but like everything in life has its own drawbacks:
it's very weird so that makes it
difficult to learn.
you do not have all the control of what's happening in the background
and you have to pay a lot for licensing (servers,clients, etc)
If you are interested in learning this, you can download a "free" version of the software that only works with sqlite databases called UniPaaS Jet.
Magic Language is as it’s called today uniPaaS, it used to be Magic than eDeveloper and now uniPaaS as PachinSV menchend before.
uniPaaS is an application platform enabling enterprises, independent software vendors (ISVs) and system integrators (SIs) to more successfully build and deploy business applications.
You can download the free version of uniPaaS Jet here: http://web.magicsoftware.com/unipaas-jet-download,
try it yourself and see how easy it is to use.
Magic technology as you descried is a Magic Software Enterprises tool (uniPaaS), you can find more information on:
official website: www.magicsoftware.com/en/products/?catID=70&pageID=55
uniPaaS Jet developer group on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/unipaasJet/
Magic developer zone: devnet.magicsoftware.com/en/unipaas
Let me know if you find the information helpful
Bob
As PachinSV explained, there is a RAD once called Magic, then eDeveloper, now UniPaaS. This RAD is dedicated for database applications. Programming in this RAD does not look like anything else I know, you mostly don't write code as with usual languages, but it is nearly impossible to explain just with words. The applications are interpreted, not compiled.
As PachinSV said, when developing, you must follow UniPaaS' way of doing things. This is probably why so many people never manage to use Magic properly: if you thought like Magic before learning about it, then you will adapt to it easily; but if you have a long and successful experience using other database development tools, then often the Magic paradigm will never become natural to you. The learning curve is quite steep, you must learn a lot of things before being able to write a little application.
Previous versions stored the "code" inside a database table. The last version, UniPaas stores the code in xml files. I could send you an example, if PachinSV does not answer you before. But the files are pretty big: the smallest xml file I have in a test app is 4000 bytes, and any application is made of at least 11 files, an empty application is 7600 bytes. You must also understand that developers never use those files (they are undocumented AFAIK), they are only the storage format used internally by UniPaaS. The only way to use them is to set them up as a UniPaaS application.
I'm still an active MAGIC Developer... This is the old name used and its a completely different paradigm like some of you mentioned. I've been developing it from Magic version 8.x to eDeveloper 9.x to 10.x then renamed to UniPAAS.
The newer version is much easier to use and it is still very RAD in the sense that there is little or no code you write... a lot of the common programming tasks like IO, SQL command...etc is handled by the tool and is transparent ( so even less code to write since we use it in almost all types of applications)... Its mostly an Enterprise tool... you wouldnt use it for small application...
You can download the free version to learn the paradigm... but the enterprise licenses are expensive.. you need both the development tool and the runtime license if you want to deploy... so it can be costly for small scale projects...
I enjoy it personally, especially when you have to do quick proof of concepts or a quick data migration or porting onto any db platform and bridging any existing system through a wide range of gateways they provide with the licensed version.. It is up to date with the commonly used web technology out there...like SOAP, RIA ...
It's more popular in Europe... The HQ in the States is in Irvine... we used to have 2 branches in Canada but it closed down in 2001 .... Visit the Magic User Group on Yahoo... Its a very active forum with lots of cool people who will help you out in your quest...
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/magicu-l/
I Programmed with Magic for 6 years and found it to be a amazingly fast tool, easy to understand if you are a competent database programmmer because all operations are really about data manipulation. It is certainly a niche area develop in and because of this jobs are few and far between. As it is interpreted there are really no bugs to make. It will work with many databases/connections simultaneously but there is a big memory and processing hit.
Drawbacks :
Little control over communications between machines and devices
No mobile API as yet
Niche area so few skilled practitioners or companies willing to invest.
Good Points :
You can say you are a Magician; you can impress people with uber fast apps development (really)
It is easy to understand if you don't have a PHD in Maths
zero programming "bugs" can creep in. What you do is what you get.
Developed in The original Magic PC referred to by several of the above folks.
It is exactly this: FAST, FAST, but expensive and rigid in what it will allow you to do. It works on a tick tack toe like matrix. Dropping in commands into the various sections determines when they are run. The middle column is run indefinitely until you break the cycle. It is like a do Until loop. If you have to do an item once you put it into this infinite loop and end it after one cycle.
The first column procedures are run first, ONCE, before the infinite middle column is run. The 3rd column of commands is run after the infinite cycle, once. It is very efficient and logical once you get over the idea of an infinite loop.
Types can be specified and an associated program to present the type. Then everywhere the type is used all the settings automatically kick in. I like especially that one can write the program and 5 months later change the name of a variable and it is carried throughout the program. In fact the program does not use your name for anything. The internal name of any and all variables is hidden to the end user, so of course it is not a problem to change a name. It takes a minute to write an input program for any table. It takes a minute to write an export/import program for all the data files in the database.
Attaching to a type of database like Btrieve or SQL independent of the program itself.
I stopped using the language because they demand more for the runtime engine than I could charge for the programs I wished to run with it. Bill Gates went the opposite direction. VB is superior in control and being able to drop `10 datagridviews onto the same screen, but development is 10 times slower.
It's niche then is PROOF of concept for a program in a big company or conversion, importing, exporting for a development company. It is good for $25k programs that are database heavy and not going mobile.
uniPaaS, Magic PC
I did some Magic work around 1993. It was a DOS based 4GL that came from Israel. Haven't seen it since.
How does it compare to VB?
It doesn't.
Is it still a better RAD tool than current .net or mvc frameworks like django, ror ...etc?
If you mean "is it more Rapid", then yes, otherwise no.
How hard is it to learn?
About as hard as learning MS Access.
Coincidentally, if you want to get an idea of what it is and how it works, I've found that comparing it to MS Access is handy. It works in much the same way from a user's or developer's perspective. Obviously what happens in the background is vastly different, but if you've ever developed a form in design view in Access, Magic will seem very familiar.
Google tells me there's also MAGIC/L. All I could find about it was this blurb:
A procedural language written in
Forth. Originally ran on Z80's under
CP/M and later available for IBM-PCs
and Sun 3s.
The only Magic programming language that I know about is one used by a company called Meditech. It's a proprietary language derived from MUMPS.
The language is truly miserable - here's a sample.
Do any of you use the javascript macro capabilities of Google Apps, particularly for spreadsheets? How do the capabilities compare? Is there anything that Google Apps can't do that can be done with VBA macros?
I am in the middle of conversion of a complex project from VBA to Google Apps Script as an experiment to see what can be done and what can't.
In general, the development environment for google apps script is primitive and frustrating. The language is of course javaScript so if you already know that then you have a head start. The problem though is that many of the advantages of javaScript are not realizable since you don't actually have access to DOM elements, and neither do you have an equivalent of Excel shapes - except through the UI object- which is essentially the same as an excel form, with the same kind of events and objects etc.
Another issue is general slowness. You need to be careful how you structure, so that you minimize calls to the spreadsheet data (I got round this by building a values cache), and scalability is very questionable.
I am equally at home with javaScript or VBA, so putting language aside, VBA is currently more fulfilling and quicker to get things done, although there are increasing capabilities built in to apps script to make it extremely promising.
I am logging the progress of my migration, and the things I come across and the battles to figure out how to minimize structural change (I am trying to see if I can come up with something that would allow dual maintenance on both platforms), so if you are interested, you can follow along here
http://ramblings.mcpher.com/Home/excelquirks/gooscript
Bruce
The VBA in Office has been the same for about 10 years now, still using old VB6. The limitations of that language are endless. No data structures, no logic short-circuiting, limited types, non-object oriented. Google Apps and javascript are presumably on the forefront of technology and so it should not have many of these limitations.
As for what each is capable of doing that the other can't, that's a little more difficult to assert. I would argue that both languages are more or less turing complete, so while it may be more or less difficult to do something in each language, in theory, a good enough team of programmers could do just about anything in either.
Cheers :D
I'm trying to create charts in google spreadsheet using google apps script and is seems not possible... It is fairly easy in VBA, maybe vb6 is 10 years old but on the other hand you're able to do everything what you need with your spreadsheet. This is not the case in google scripts though.
One of the major hurdles is that Google Apps is web based. Thats were most companies cringe at the thought that you would have your own data not stored securely within your own network. I would never trust Google with that sort of data. I'm sure they have secure data connectors, but why take that risk?
Sure VBA is outdated, and not as sexy as javascript. However, its a great tool for quickly writing small applications, and getting it to the user fast. You only really hear nightmare stories about applications that were built by non-programmers using VBA.
It really depends on your project, and what you want to accomplish. Both have their limitations.
Having taken a quick look at Google Spreadsheet API I get the impression that its currently somewhat limited, for instance:
fewer Events, no control of calculation?, no way of writing UDFs?
Has anyone tried using it for serious work?
By its nature, a Google spreadsheet will not be able to do many things a local program will do. Example: a macro that would import all csv files in a user specified folder and consolidate them.
One thing that springs to mind is that VBA has full access to the WinAPI through 'Declare Function' declarations. Google Apps script won't have this access. This is something to watch for if you're converting a spreadsheet between the two.