Playing with AI (and Tcl/Tk)
============================

Or being serious? I once wrote a Tcl code for structural analysis of 2D
frame  structures (for  civil  engineering). Initially  it only  should
serve as a GUI for a command-line solver (whi I never wrote, actually).
Then I improved it to be a standalone (albeit barely finished) tool.

I did some work  on it during the COVID times.  Recently I have decided
that it can be a good testing environment for AI development. This tool
[1] will  be useful for  me if it  will be finished  but it will  be no
tragedy if it will  not work (I have actual 3D FEA  solver for my needs
and a C/Gtk+ code for 2D frames - they are their issues but I have been
using both for 20 years without main issues).

So I have been started to try what can an AI do with that (I mostly use
the Gemini  from one  big tech  company). It  is not  a straightforward
process but such  modern fool (I mean  tool) can help a  lot in finding
errors (both mine and  AI's) and to help with thing  I will need search
for and implement for much longer time.

Actually, such  help allowed me to  make a retro-looking (I  decided to
keep the original interface from 2006  and only added subtle theming to
make it look more natural on  the IRIX)application which as a good load
of modern  features (many of  them were in  the original code  but they
were buggy and/or unfinished).

Less or more up-to-date version of the  code is here [1]. The main file
is the fem1.tcl. I'm almost sure that there is no one on the Gopher who
can be interested in such type of  software but that's the life. If you
will  try the  code  anyway,  please note  that  the  .desktop file  is
tailored to my  local setup (runs the experimental script  from my home
directory) so it's probably useless for anyone else.

It's interesting  that the  code actually  runs on  the older  SGI IRIS
Indigo with  the R400  CPU (@100  MHz -  is your  machine so  fast?). I
cannot run it on my older Siemens-branded Indigo R3000. Not because the
older 32bit R300 CPY (@33Mhz) but  because there is no space for Tcl/Tk
8.0 installation  (unless I remove  something else which I  hesitate to
do). So I  have made a (much) simpler  tool for it (with AI  use) but I
still prefer  to use my Gtk+-based  C program here. The  problem is not
the speed rather the usability -  my old code is optimised for keyboard
control and has been made for  my typical tasks (analysing small simple
structures).

Anyway, having a  program that runs on almost any  desktop (the PowerPC
Macs also  have Tcl/Tk port,  of course -  eve Windows have  no problem
here) is  very nice, I think.  I'm aware about Tcl/Tk  port for Android
hbut ave no motivation to try the code there.


This  phlog was written on the SGI O2.


References:

[1] http://jirka.sdf.org/fem1/index.html