Stuggles
Not only do I not have a life, I have found some answers to my problems, which only makes everything harder (although it is nice having something to do).
First order of business, getting a diff function that will do diffs on multiple, possibly broken copies of a document (ezlo business). Modeling: there are a couple users (A, B, C) that are working simultaneously on a document, and user A decides to update line 5. At the same time, user B decides to… well, alot of things can go wrong just about now. B could start to edit the line at the exact same time, B could create a couple new lines between lines 3 and 4, throwing off any line-based diff systems, he could make a few copies of line 5 into lines 2 and 3, or any number of things.
The race condition is easy to solve: just disable further editing when B finds that someone got to editing line 5 first. Creating new lines and copies: well, I’ll figure it out.
Second order of business, making the cracked-ground script. Voronoi diagrams give the sort of shape I’m looking for (probably provided I give it sets of points that aren’t too close together?), but that means implementing voronoi and extracting verticies: after that, then splitting them and joining them back into polygons (or in the previous step?).
I also ordered some relays to act as switches for the coilgun (I know, right?). Now, I don’t really like radioshack (understated) but, as I know, they do for a ‘real’ electronics store in a pinch. I also need an excuse to use my under-used soldering iron. It’s a real thing of beauty, just I never get to use it. Sigh. Oh, and note to self: get some pvc piping. Trust me, if I get my way, this will all make sense later.
Out