Tag: line

Meltdown – The Computer Lab Prank

I remember that little prank from the days I was a student. You work on an X terminal, and out of the blue, all the display contents gradually disappear’ Pixel after pixel turns black. But don’t worry – you’ll regain control over your display shortly. shortly.
Everyone can access other X terminal display, and mess with it.

How Does It Work?

This program is a simple one using the GDK library, Gnome’s window management package. Including ‘gdk.h’ will also include:

The Program’s Flow

The main function of the program performs the following steps:
1. Initialize GDK.
2. Create a window whose dimensions are the same as those of the root window.
3. Make the window’s background transparent.
4. Make the window a full-screen window.
5. Add an event handler. to handle Expose events.
The event handler will perform the following steps:
1. Create a list of columns and lengths (number of blackened pixels).
2. Create the Graphics Context for the window.
3. Blacken pixels until all pixels are black.
4. Quit the main loop.

Includes And Structures:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>  
#include <gdk/gdk.h>

GMainLoop *mainloop;
GList *list;

typedef struct col_and_length_t{
  short col;  // Column number
  short len;  // Number of blackened pixels.
} col_and_length;`

The main function:

int main(int argc, char *argv[]){
  gdk_init(NULL, NULL);
  GdkDisplay *disp=gdk_display_get_default();
  GdkScreen *scr = gdk_display_get_default_screen (disp);
  GdkWindow *root = gdk_screen_get_root_window(scr);
  int rootWidth = gdk_window_get_width(root);
  int rootHeight = gdk_window_get_height(root);
  GdkWindowAttr attr;
  attr.width=rootWidth;
  attr.height=rootHeight;
  attr.x=0;
  attr.y=0;
  attr.window_type = GDK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL;
  attr.wclass=GDK_INPUT_OUTPUT;

  GdkWindow *newWin=gdk_window_new(root,&attr, GDK_WA_X | GDK_WA_Y);
  gdk_event_handler_set (eventFunc, newWin, NULL);
  GdkRGBA color;
  color.alpha=0;

  gdk_window_set_background_rgba(newWin, &color);
  gdk_window_fullscreen(newWin);
  gdk_event_handler_set (eventFunc, newWin, NULL);
  gdk_window_show(newWin);
  mainloop = g_main_new (TRUE);
  g_main_loop_run (mainloop);
  gdk_display_close(disp);

return 0;
}

The event handler

void start_meltdown(GdkWindow *newWin, int height){
  cairo_t *gc=gdk_cairo_create(newWin);
  cairo_set_line_width(gc,2);
  cairo_set_source_rgb (gc, 0, 0, 0);
  int cell_no,size;
  GList *link;
  col_and_length *link_data;
  size=g_list_length(list);

  while(size>0){
    cell_no=random() % size;
    link = g_list_nth(list,cell_no);
    link_data = (col_and_length *)link->data;
    cairo_move_to(gc, link_data->col, link_data->len);
    cairo_rel_line_to(gc, 0, 1);
    cairo_stroke(gc);
    link_data->len++;
    if (link_data->len >= height){
      list=g_list_remove_link(list, link);
      --size;
    }
  }
  g_main_loop_quit(mainloop);
}

void eventFunc(GdkEvent *evt, gpointer data){
  GdkWindow *newWin = (GdkWindow *)data;
  if (gdk_event_get_event_type(evt) == GDK_EXPOSE && gdk_event_get_window (evt) == newWin){
    int width=gdk_window_get_width(newWin);
    int height=gdk_window_get_height(newWin);
    int i;
    for (i=0; i<width;i++){
      col_and_length *cell=(col_and_length *)calloc(sizeof(col_and_length), 1);
      cell->col=i;
      cell->len=0;
      list = g_list_append(list, cell);
    }
    start_meltdown(newWin,height);
  }

}

Compiling

In linux, compiling a program is easy thanks to the pkg-config command.
Run the following from the command line:

gcc meltdown.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs gdk-3.0` -o meltdown

Now, to run the program type:

./meltdown

Written with StackEdit.

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Bézier Curves

The Bézier curve is a popular way to draw curves in graphic editors such as GIMP and Inkscape. A curve of degree n is defined using n+1 points, where the first and last are the start and end points of the curve, respectively, and the rest are control points.
For example:
fff
The curve in the image above is a cubic Bézier curve. It has start and end points (filled with blue) and two control points (with no fill).
Each control point is attached by a straight line to a start or an end point, for a reason:

  • The control points allows the user to control the curve intuitively.
  • The straight line between the start(or end) point and its control point is tangent to the curve at the start(or end) point.

The Definition

A Bézier curve is defined as the collection of points that are the result of the function
B(t) for every t in [0,1].
A linear Bézier is simply a straight line between to points P0 and P1. The function is:
(1 – t)BP0 + tBP1

For n>1, Be P0, P1 … Pn the list of the curve’s points. Then the curve’s function is defined as
BP0P1…Pn(t) = (t – 1)BP0P1…Pn-1(t) + tBP1P2…Pn(t)

Or, in its explicit form:

(Not a very precise definition because 00 is not a number, so use the value 1 instead.)

This equation can be proved easily using the Pascal triangle.
From the explicit definition, you can see that the translation is done by adding the same coordinates to which of the curves start, end and control points.
because:
Rotations and translations are done by a transform matrix. So, if T is a transform matrix:
TBP1,P2,…Pn = BTP1,TP2,…TPn

About Tangents

Now, in a Bézier curve, BP0P1…Pn(t), The line P0 – P1 is tangent to the curve at point P0, and Pn – Pn-1 is tangent to the curve at point Pn

To prove this we’ll have to show that the derivative of a Bézier curve of degree n at the start and end points is a non-zero scalar multiplied by the difference between P1 and P0, and between Pn and Pn-1.
That scalar is n.

For n=1;
BP0,P1 = (1 – t)P0 + tP1
Let’s derive:
B’P0,P1 = -P0 + P1

Good!

Let’s assume it’s correct for n, and prove for n+1
BP0,P1…,Pn+1(t) = (1 – t)BP0,P1…,Pn(t) + tBP1,P2…,Pn+1(t)
Let’s derive:
B’P0,P1…,Pn+1(t) = -BP0,P1…,Pn(t) + (1-t)B’P0,P1…,Pn(t) + BP1,P2…,Pn+1(t) + tB’P1,P2…,Pn+1(t)

Now, to get the tangent to the curve at p0, let;s assign t=0:
B’P0,P1…,Pn+1(0) = -BP0,P1…,Pn(0) + B’P0,P1…,Pn(0) + BP1,P2…,Pn+1(0) =
= – P0 + n(P1 – P0) + P1 = (n+1)(P1 – P0)

Good!
Now, to get the tangent to the curve at p0, let;s assign t=1:
B’P0,P1…,Pn+1(1) = -BP0,P1…,Pn(1) + BP1,P2…,Pn+1(1) + B’P1,P2…,Pn+1(1) =
= – Pn + Pn+1 + n(Pn+1 – Pn) + P1 = (n+1)(Pn+1 – Pn)

QED

SVG supports Bézier curves of up to the third degree. A path consisting of such curves are good approximations of shapes provided that you have enough points.

Ruby TK – The Canvas

If you want to use Ruby TK for painting – and not just displaying pictures from the disk – you can use the widget TkCanvas. To this widget you can add lines, polygons, elipses and circles etc.

Now, to add a shape to a canvas in Perl you would use the syntax:

$canvas->createLine(x1, y1..., xn, yn, ?option, value, option, value, ...?)

In Ruby:
line=TkcLine.new(canvas,x1, y1..., xn, yn, ?option=> value, option=>value, ...?)

x1,y1,…,xn,yn are the coordinates of the shape. They can be changed in response to events.
It also has options such as ‘fill’, the color with which to fill the shape.
The options can be changed in response to events.

What Are Coordinates

Every shape has its coordinates, points that define the shape. You can get or configure the shape’s coordinates using the function ‘coords’.

TkcLine – points along the shape consisting of one or more lines. Each point is where the previous line ends and the next starts.

TkcPolygom – Like TkcLine, but with a line connecting the last point to the first.

TkcRectangle – x1,y1,x2,y2 are the coordinates of two opposite vertexes of a horizontal or vertical rectangle.

TkcOval – x1,y1,x2,y2 of the rectangle enclosing the ellipse or circle.

TkcArc – like TkcOval, but in addition has the options ‘start’ and ‘extent’. ‘start’ is the number of degrees from the 3 o’clock position of the oval. ‘extent’ is the size of the angular range occupied by the arc counterclockwise from the arc’s beginning point.

Learn more at http://perlhelp.web.cern.ch/PerlHelp/ (search for tk/canvas on the right side of the window) or feel free to ask your questions in a comment.