add README - gramscii - A simple editor for ASCII box-and-arrow charts
DIR Log
DIR Files
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DIR README
DIR LICENSE
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DIR commit f73faa7a82282660413e4056486e452af61832c0
DIR parent 4cb5948229fea24c9a2eb3413d6dbe53613bada7
HTML Author: KatolaZ <katolaz@freaknet.org>
Date: Sun, 21 Jul 2019 08:43:44 +0100
add README
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-Simple tool to draw ascii box plots from the terminal.
-No need to use 1 million line of javascript code on a browser.
+gramscii -- interactive tool for ASCII box-and-arrows charts
+============================================================
+
+```gramscii``` (pronounced "grrr'a(m)sky", more or less like "ASCII" but
+with a leading "grrr") is a simple CLI tool to create and edit
+box-and-arrows charts using ASCII characters.
+
+```gramscii``` is interactive and its commands are quite intuitive to
+anybody who does not need a mouse to be productive. You can move around
+the screen with the usual ```hjkl``` keys, but you will travel at
+ligthning speed by placing another finger on ```SHIFT```. You start
+drawing a box with ```b```, and you place an arrow with ```a```. For
+more information, just read the manpage.
+
+```gramscii``` aims at remaining small, avoiding bloat, and being
+portable. It is written in ASCII C90, it requires only an ANSI
+VT100-compatible terminal (real or virtual), and it does not use any
+external library (nope, not even ncurses!). Hence, you should be able to
+compile and run ```gramscii``` on any operating system with a C90 libc
+and a VT100 terminal emulator.
+
+WHY?
+====
+
+As most of the software out there, ```gramscii``` comes out of
+frustration and pain.
+
+I have been producing box-and-arrow diagrams in ASCII for quite a while.
+I know that there exist ad-hoc plugins for ```vim(1)``` and
+```emacs(1)```, but I was not happy with any of them, to say the least.
+
+At the same time, there has been a recent proliferation of browser-based
+point-and-click tools to draw ASCII charts. Like, are you serious? Why
+on Earth should people accept to load 1 million LOCs of obscure
+javascript code on a hyper-bloated web browser and use a fancy
+point-and-click interface to produce......guess what......ASCII charts
+that are best-viewed viewed on a VT100 terminal?
+
+We must say no to madness. We must repudiate bloat. We must reject
+useless featurism. Software must be reasonable, simple, small, and
+functional.
+
+But wait...
+============
+
+If you have noticed that the name ```gramscii``` is too much reminiscent
+of Antonio Gramsci, the phylosopher and politician who was among the
+founders of the Italian Communist Party in 1921, who strongly believed
+that every single human is an intellectual, a philosopher, and an
+artist, and who maintained that societal changes are only possible when
+a class exerts intellectual and moral leadership over its
+contemporaries, well then just get rid of all your shiny iPointless
+things and come back to reality.