etc/tasks.texi

   1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
   2 @c %**start of header
   3 @setfilename tasks.info
   4 @settitle GNU Task List
   5 @c UPDATE THIS DATE WHENEVER YOU MAKE CHANGES!
   6 @set lastupdate 16 July 1993
   7 @c %**end of header
   8
   9 @setchapternewpage off
  10
  11 @titlepage
  12 @title GNU Task List
  13 @author Free Software Foundation
  14 @author last updated @value{lastupdate}
  15 @end titlepage
  16
  17 @ifinfo
  18 @node Top, Documentation, (dir), (dir)
  19 @top GNU Task list
  20
  21 This file is updated automatically from @file{tasks.texi}, which was
  22 last updated on @value{lastupdate}.
  23 @end ifinfo
  24
  25 Check with gnu@@prep.ai.mit.edu, for a possibly more current copy.
  26 This task list is not exclusive; any other useful program might be a
  27 good project---but it might instead be something we already have, so
  28 check with gnu@@prep before you start writing it.
  29
  30 @menu
  31 * Documentation::
  32 * Unix-Related Projects::
  33 * Kernel Projects::
  34 * Extensions::
  35 * X Windows Projects::
  36 * Other Projects::
  37 * Compilers::
  38 * Games and Recreations::
  39 @end menu
  40
  41 If you start working steadily on a project, please let gnu@@prep know.
  42 We might have information that could help you; we'd also like to send
  43 you the GNU coding standards.
  44
  45 Because of the natural tendency for most volunteers to write
  46 programming tools or programming languages, we have a comparative
  47 shortage of applications useful for non-programmer users.  Therefore,
  48 we ask you to consider writing such a program.
  49
  50 In general, a new program that does a completely new job advances the
  51 GNU project more than an improvement to an existing program.
  52
  53 @node Documentation
  54 @chapter Documentation
  55
  56 We very urgently need documentation for some parts of the system
  57 that already exist or will exist very soon:
  58
  59 @itemize @bullet
  60
  61 @item
  62 A C reference manual.  (RMS has written half of one which you could
  63 start with).
  64
  65 @item
  66 A manual for Ghostscript.
  67
  68 @item
  69 A manual for CSH.
  70
  71 @item
  72 A manual for PIC (the graphics formatting language).
  73
  74 @item
  75 A manual for Perl.  (The manual that exists is not free, and
  76 is thus not available to be part of the GNU system.)
  77
  78 @item
  79 A manual for Oleo.
  80
  81 @item
  82 A book on how GCC works and why various machine descriptions
  83 are written as they are.
  84
  85 @item
  86 A manual for programming X-window applications.
  87
  88 @item
  89 Manuals for various X window managers.
  90
  91 @item
  92 Reference cards for those manuals that don't have them: Gawk, C
  93 Compiler, Make, Texinfo, Termcap and maybe the C Library.
  94
  95 @item
  96 Many utilities need documentation, including @code{grep}, @code{cpio},
  97 @code{find}, @code{less}, and the other small utilities.
  98
  99 @end itemize
 100
 101 @node Unix-Related Projects
 102 @chapter Unix-Related projects
 103
 104 @itemize
 105
 106 @item
 107 We could use an emulation of Unix @code{spell}, which would run by
 108 invoking @code{ispell}.
 109
 110 @item
 111 Less urgent: @code{diction}, @code{explain}, @code{style}.
 112
 113 @item
 114 An improved version of the POSIX utility @code{pax}.  There is one on
 115 the usenet, but it is said to be poorly written.  Talk with
 116 mib@@gnu.ai.mit.edu about this project.
 117
 118 @item
 119 Modify the GNU @code{dc} program to use the math routines of GNU
 120 @code{bc}.
 121
 122 @item
 123 A @code{grap} preprocessor program for @code{troff}.
 124
 125 @item
 126 Various other libraries.
 127
 128 @item
 129 An emulation of SCCS that works using RCS.
 130
 131 @end itemize
 132
 133 @node Kernel Projects
 134 @chapter Kernel-Related projects
 135
 136 @itemize
 137
 138 @item
 139 An over-the-ethernet debugger that will allow the kernel to be
 140 debugged from GDB running on another machine.
 141
 142 @item
 143 A shared memory X11 server to run under MACH is very desirable.  The
 144 machine specific parts should be kept well separated.
 145
 146 @end itemize
 147
 148 @node Extensions
 149 @chapter Extensions to existing GNU software
 150
 151 @itemize
 152
 153 @item
 154 Enhance GCC.  See files PROJECTS and PROBLEMS in the GCC distribution.
 155
 156 @item
 157 GNU @code{sed} probably needs to be rewritten completely just to make it
 158 cleaner.
 159
 160 @item
 161 Add a few features to GNU @code{diff}, such as handling large input
 162 files without reading entire files into core.
 163
 164 @item
 165 Extend GDB with an X-based graphical interface better than @code{xxgdb}.
 166
 167 @item
 168 An @code{nroff} macro package to simplify @code{texi2roff}.
 169
 170 @item
 171 A queueing system for the mailer Smail that groups pending work by
 172 destination rather than by original message.  This makes it possible
 173 to schedule retries coherently for each destination.  Talk to
 174 tron@@veritas.com about this.
 175
 176 @item
 177 Cross-referencing, flow graph, and execution trace programs for C and
 178 other languages, like @code{cxref}, @code{cflow}, and @code{ctrace}.
 179
 180 @end itemize
 181
 182 @node X Windows Projects
 183 @chapter X windows projects
 184
 185 @itemize
 186
 187 @item
 188 An emulator for Macintosh graphics calls on top of X Windows.
 189
 190 @item
 191 An emulator for Microsoft windows calls on top of X Windows.  (A
 192 commercial program to do this took just three months to write.)
 193
 194 @item
 195 A music playing and editing system.
 196
 197 @item
 198 A program to edit dance notation (such as labanotation) and display
 199 dancers moving on the screen.
 200
 201 @item
 202 A library for displaying circle-shaped menus with X windows.
 203
 204 @item
 205 A program to display and edit Hypercard stacks.
 206
 207 @item
 208 An interface-builder program to make it easy to design graphical
 209 interfaces for applications.  This could work with the dynamic linker
 210 DLD and C++, loading in the same class definitions that will be used
 211 by the application program.
 212
 213 @item
 214 A desktop program with icons and such, for X-windows.
 215
 216 @item
 217 A paint program, supporting both bitmap-oriented operations and
 218 component-oriented operations.  @code{xpaint} exists, but isn't very
 219 usable.
 220
 221 @end itemize
 222
 223 @node Other Projects
 224 @chapter Other Projects
 225
 226 If you think of others that should be added, please
 227 send them to gnu@@prep.ai.mit.edu.
 228
 229 @itemize
 230
 231 @item
 232 [This seems to be being done:]
 233 A program to convert Postscript to plain ASCII text.  Ghostscript will
 234 soon have a mode to output all the text strings in a document, each with
 235 its coordinates.  You could write a program to start with this output
 236 and ``layout the page'' in ASCII.  The program will be both easier and
 237 more useful if you don't worry pedantically about how the output text
 238 should be formatted.  Instead, try to make it look reasonable as plain
 239 ASCII.
 240
 241 @item
 242 A program to convert compiled programs represented in OSF ANDF
 243 (``Architecture Neutral Distribution Format'') into ANSI C.
 244
 245 @item
 246 An imitation of Page Maker or Ventura Publisher.
 247
 248 @item
 249 An imitation of @code{dbase2} or @code{dbase3} (How dbased!)
 250
 251 @item
 252 A program to reformat Fortran programs in a way that is pretty.
 253
 254 @item
 255 A bulletin board system.  There are a few free ones, but they don't have
 256 all the features that people want in such systems.  It would make sense
 257 to start with an existing one and add the other features.
 258
 259 @item
 260 A general ledger program.
 261
 262 @item
 263 A single command language that could be suitable for use in a shell, in
 264 GDB for programming debugging commands, in a program like @code{awk}, in
 265 a calculator like @code{bc}, and so on.  The fact that all these
 266 programs are similar but different in peculiar details is a great source
 267 of confusion.  We are stuck with maintaining compatibility with Unix in
 268 our shell, @code{awk}, and @code{bc}, but nothing prevents us from
 269 having alternative programs using our new, uniform language.  This would
 270 make GNU far better for new users.
 271
 272 @item
 273 A program to typeset C code for printing.
 274 For ideas on what to do, see the forthcoming book,
 275
 276 @display
 277 Human Factors and Typography for More Readable Programs,
 278 Ronald M. Baecker and Aaron Marcus,
 279 Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-10745-7
 280 @end display
 281
 282 (I don't quite agree with a few of the details they propose.)
 283
 284 @item
 285 Speech-generation programs (there is a program from Brown U that you
 286 could improve).
 287
 288 @item
 289 Speech-recognition programs (single-speaker, disconnected speech).
 290
 291 @item
 292 Scientific mathematical subroutines, including clones of SPSS.
 293
 294 @item
 295 Statistical tools.
 296
 297 @item
 298 Software to replace card catalogues in libraries.
 299
 300 @item
 301 Grammar and style checking programs.
 302
 303 @item
 304 An implementation of the S language.
 305
 306 @item
 307 A translator from Scheme to C.
 308
 309 @item
 310 Optical character recognition programs; especially if suitable for
 311 scanning documents with multiple fonts and capturing font info as well
 312 as character codes.  This may not be very difficult if you let it
 313 @emph{train} on part of the individual document to be scanned, so as to
 314 learn what fonts are in use in that document.  We would particularly
 315 like to scan the Century Dictionary, an unabridged dictionary now in the
 316 public domain.
 317
 318 You don't need scanning hardware to work on OCR.  We can send you
 319 bitmaps you can use as test data.
 320
 321 @item
 322 A program to scan a line drawing and convert it to Postscript.
 323
 324 @item
 325 A program to recognize handwriting.
 326
 327 @item
 328 A pen based interface.
 329
 330 @item
 331 Software suitable for creating virtual reality user interfaces.
 332
 333 @item
 334 CAD software, such as a vague imitation of Autocad.
 335
 336 @item
 337 Software for displaying molecules.
 338
 339 @item
 340 Software for comparing DNA sequences, and finding matches and
 341 alignments.
 342
 343 @end itemize
 344
 345 @node Compilers
 346 @chapter Compilers for Other Batch Languages
 347
 348 Volunteers are needed to write parsers/front ends for languages such
 349 as Algol 60, Algol 68, PL/I, or whatever, to be used with the
 350 code generation phases of the GNU C compiler.  (C++ is done, and
 351 Ada, Fortran, Pascal and Modula are being worked on.)
 352
 353 @node Games and Recreations
 354 @chapter Games and Recreations
 355
 356 @itemize
 357
 358 @item
 359 Video-oriented games should work with the X window system.
 360
 361 @item
 362 Empire (there is a free version but it needs upgrading)
 363
 364 @item
 365 Imitations of popular video games:
 366
 367 @itemize
 368 @item
 369 Space war, Asteroids, Pong, Columns.
 370 @item
 371 Defending cities from missiles.
 372 @item
 373 Plane shoots at lots of other planes.
 374 @item
 375 Wizard fights fanciful monster.
 376 @item
 377 A golf game.
 378 @item
 379 Program a robot by sticking building blocks together,
 380 then watch it explore a world.
 381 @item
 382 Biomorph evolution (as in Scientific American).
 383 @item
 384 A program to display effects of moving at relativistic speeds.
 385 @end itemize
 386
 387 @item
 388 Intriguing screen-saver programs to make interesting pictures.
 389 Other such programs that are simply entertaining to watch.
 390 For example, an aquarium.
 391
 392 @end itemize
 393
 394 We do not need @code{rogue}, as we have @code{hack}.
 395
 396 @contents
 397
 398 @bye