Okay, so I've put together a new piece of software that might be of use to some of you folks. Let me say first that I'm aware that pretty much everything it does is done on the web but not all in one place, at least that I could find. Also I'm sure there must be similar software out there already, but again I didn't find it. Also, just like my relativity calculator, it is totally free 
So what is it? Well, I've rather pretentiously called it FormWiki. The idea is that it is a generator of calculators for formulas and unit conversions. From the control panel you can launch multiple calculators. These can either be converters (eg. miles to kilometres) or formula calculators (eg. F = m * a). It's main features are:
1. Launch multiple calculators or converters
2. Add your own custom units
3. Add your own custom unit categories (installed categories are things like speed, pressure etc. you add things like units of magic)
4. Write your own formula scripts (very simple - for simple formulas!)
5. Evaluate those formulas in any combination of units you choose (including your own custom ones). You can even mix and match things like Imperial and metric when evaluating (depending on just how perverse you are!).
The software comes with a core set of over 350 units and constants, so you should be able to do most common conversions with it. However, and this is where it may be of use to SFF authors, you can also add fictional units of your own including completely new categories of unit (like say units of Magic). Apart from the magic bit I think this could be useful for authors to get the units in their works consistent. Typically even the author won't have a gut feel for their units, so for example if your hero can walk at say 4000 strides per 'whatever unit of time you use' just how long will it take them (in your units or ours) to walk 200 grombles!? All too often I've looked at fantasy book maps and wondered just how they covered such a huge distance on foot in such a short time.
For the formula calculation bit there are a bunch of formulas I've already put into the core installed set but, like units, you can add your own using a simple scripting language. The idea is that there are thousands of formulas out there, both common and more specialised, and I certainly don't have time to research all of them and write scripts for them so that's where the 'Wiki' part of the name comes in. I'm hoping others will write scripts for it and pass them around and maybe send any core ones back to me to add into the core installed formulas (the same goes for any core units I might have missed). Once the script is written and imported (dumped into a special folder) the formula can be evaluated as often you need in any appropriate units (using a force as a speed really wouldn't make much sense!). I've provided a bunch of formulas already but not really that many and it's a pretty scattered selection mainly for testing purposes.
It's by no means complete yet - very much a beta or even gamma version - however it is pretty much fully functioning. Some additions I'd like to do include:
1. Formula script management code.
2. Custom Unit management code. There's some already but not much.
3. Dynamically connect running calculators, so you can pipe the output(s) of one calculator into the input(s) of other calculators. (Actually there is already something similar in the scripting language but not dynamic).
4. I'd quite like to include a currency category of units, but the problem there is that the conversion from one unit to another, unlike 'normal' units, tends to change on a daily basis.
5. And, well, other stuff like maybe 'help'
Just how much I'm likely to actually do depends largely on how much time I can afford to spend on it and that depends largely on how many people are finding it useful
You can download the setup from here: www.focussoftware.co.uk/downloads/FormWiki_Setup.exe
That's just a direct link; there's no fancy download page or anything (at the moment). It should run on pretty much any version of Windows. One warning though, is that I haven't registerd with MS or anything so Windows is likely whitter and whinge about unknown publishers etc. as might your security software. I assure you I have no viruses and the software has no nasty adware type things in it.
If anyone does find it interesting enough to use I can post some additional instructions and thoughts on adding custom units and formulas, so please let me know! Also with over 350 units in there already there are bound to be some typos. If you spot any or get silly results from your formulas then again just let me know.
So what is it? Well, I've rather pretentiously called it FormWiki. The idea is that it is a generator of calculators for formulas and unit conversions. From the control panel you can launch multiple calculators. These can either be converters (eg. miles to kilometres) or formula calculators (eg. F = m * a). It's main features are:
1. Launch multiple calculators or converters
2. Add your own custom units
3. Add your own custom unit categories (installed categories are things like speed, pressure etc. you add things like units of magic)
4. Write your own formula scripts (very simple - for simple formulas!)
5. Evaluate those formulas in any combination of units you choose (including your own custom ones). You can even mix and match things like Imperial and metric when evaluating (depending on just how perverse you are!).
The software comes with a core set of over 350 units and constants, so you should be able to do most common conversions with it. However, and this is where it may be of use to SFF authors, you can also add fictional units of your own including completely new categories of unit (like say units of Magic). Apart from the magic bit I think this could be useful for authors to get the units in their works consistent. Typically even the author won't have a gut feel for their units, so for example if your hero can walk at say 4000 strides per 'whatever unit of time you use' just how long will it take them (in your units or ours) to walk 200 grombles!? All too often I've looked at fantasy book maps and wondered just how they covered such a huge distance on foot in such a short time.
For the formula calculation bit there are a bunch of formulas I've already put into the core installed set but, like units, you can add your own using a simple scripting language. The idea is that there are thousands of formulas out there, both common and more specialised, and I certainly don't have time to research all of them and write scripts for them so that's where the 'Wiki' part of the name comes in. I'm hoping others will write scripts for it and pass them around and maybe send any core ones back to me to add into the core installed formulas (the same goes for any core units I might have missed). Once the script is written and imported (dumped into a special folder) the formula can be evaluated as often you need in any appropriate units (using a force as a speed really wouldn't make much sense!). I've provided a bunch of formulas already but not really that many and it's a pretty scattered selection mainly for testing purposes.
It's by no means complete yet - very much a beta or even gamma version - however it is pretty much fully functioning. Some additions I'd like to do include:
1. Formula script management code.
2. Custom Unit management code. There's some already but not much.
3. Dynamically connect running calculators, so you can pipe the output(s) of one calculator into the input(s) of other calculators. (Actually there is already something similar in the scripting language but not dynamic).
4. I'd quite like to include a currency category of units, but the problem there is that the conversion from one unit to another, unlike 'normal' units, tends to change on a daily basis.
5. And, well, other stuff like maybe 'help'
Just how much I'm likely to actually do depends largely on how much time I can afford to spend on it and that depends largely on how many people are finding it useful
You can download the setup from here: www.focussoftware.co.uk/downloads/FormWiki_Setup.exe
That's just a direct link; there's no fancy download page or anything (at the moment). It should run on pretty much any version of Windows. One warning though, is that I haven't registerd with MS or anything so Windows is likely whitter and whinge about unknown publishers etc. as might your security software. I assure you I have no viruses and the software has no nasty adware type things in it.
If anyone does find it interesting enough to use I can post some additional instructions and thoughts on adding custom units and formulas, so please let me know! Also with over 350 units in there already there are bound to be some typos. If you spot any or get silly results from your formulas then again just let me know.
