[Final Project Idea] Make the TryAPL front end mobile friendly

[rikedyp]

• Project: TryAPL Front End
• Size: medium-175h
• Difficulty Level: Medium
• Project URL: https://github.com/Dyalog/TryAPL
• Potential mentors: Rich Park (@rikedyp), Aarush Bhat (@sloorush), Neil Kirsopp (@cursork)
• Discussions: [Final Project Idea] Make the TryAPL front end mobile friendly #10

Description:

TryAPL is an online service that allows users to experiment with APL in a web browser without having to install any additional software. APL code entered into the system is sent over HTTP to a sandboxed environment that interprets the code and returns the formatted output to the user. Moreover, the entire state of the execution workspace, including defined functions and variables, is stored in a serialised, compressed format client side in the browser so that no server-side sessions or state need to be maintained. The system includes a JavaScript-based input method for APL symbols for both keyboard and mouse, as well as the ability to interpret and render Dyalog Jupyter notebooks.

The front-end can be used on mobile devices, but was not designed with mobile-first principles and as such has some issues when viewed on some touch-screen devices. Improvement to the TryAPL front end will make APL more accessible to users on a wider range of devices.

This project is to develop the front end of TryAPL to be mobile friendly; the interface will be accessible on touch screen devices. The input system will be refactored to an entirely managed system using JavaScript that prevents the device operating system's keyboard from popping up. There will need to be an on-screen keyboard that allows input of ASCII and APL characters. There should be some consideration for the use of interactive Jupyter notebook tutorials.

Expected outcomes:

The TryAPL project will have a new front end that can be deployed on https://tryapl.org.

Technologies involved:

HTML, CSS, JavaScript

[MaxCan-Code]

See Dyalog/TryAPL#50 (comment) for such an on-screen keyboard

[sloorush]

I would be happy to co-mentor on this idea

[sloorush]

• This idea has been finalised and added to Final Suggested Project List #14

[Recxsmacx]

Thats super great can you suggest me where to start???

[Recxsmacx]

@sloorush @rikedyp @cursork

[rikedyp]

Thanks for your interest. To start I would recommend getting TryAPL to run locally on your own computer. I will write some instructions and add them to the project README soon.

In another comment you said you are new to open source. Do you know about cloning, forks, branches and pull requests in GitHub? If not, I would recommend reading up on those, because I would suggest:

1. Fork the TryAPL repository
2. Clone your fork
3. Create a branch "front-end"
4. Push this branch to your repository (this will be https://github.com/Recxsmacx/TryAPL after you fork the project)

Ideally branches will address single units of work, and will be smaller in scope than the entire front end work for this project, but if you are new I recommend at least carrying out the steps above to start getting familiar with GitHub practices.

We can discuss how to tackle the actual project and what changes to make first later, but for now I recommend trying to set up a development environment for yourself.

[Recxsmacx]

thankyou for the guidelines @rikedyp followed your steps and able to run the tryapl codebase locally ! it would be great if someone can mention good first issues the codebase is new to grasp by solving them i'll be able to get into it easily
Thankyou!

[MaxCan-Code]

it would be great if someone can mention good first issues the codebase is new to grasp by solving them i'll be able to get into it easily

Dyalog/TryAPL#9
Dyalog/TryAPL#10
Dyalog/TryAPL#26
Dyalog/TryAPL#37
Dyalog/TryAPL#40

[Recxsmacx]

@MaxCan-Code thank you bro!!

[Recxsmacx]

hello @rikedyp @MaxCan-Code @sloorush after raising my first pr my codebase is not responding in the local machine can anyone help me to perfectly run it in my local device ! Thankyou have a nice day

[sloorush]

Hi @Recxsmacx, I took at look at your PR(and your fork) and have suggested a fix Dyalog/TryAPL#54 (comment)

[Recxsmacx]

okay thanks @sloorush it might take a lil bit extra time as I am trying to understand everything but yeah i'll try to make this process smooth (going to ask a lot of doubts)

[rikedyp]

Hi @Recxsmacx are you able to run TryAPL locally? It should be that you run dyalog LOAD=/path/to/TAE.apln and Dyalog will start and the service will be accessible from http://localhost:8080.

Can I also ask what operating system are you using?

[Recxsmacx]

i was able to run it locally with a different method it was not compatible and it crashed if there are any detailed steps to slide through please share @rikedyp I'm using windows 11

[rikedyp]

@Recxsmacx on Windows you should be able to do Right Click → Run with Dyalog on the file TAE.apln. In command line or powershell you should be able to do something like

"c:\Program Files\Dyalog\Dyalog APL-64 19.0 Unicode\dyalog.exe" LOAD=/g/TryAPL/TAE.apln