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Re: [Phys-L] Physics "applets" in HTML5/JavaScript



Thanks for advertising GlowScript, Dan.

The key difference between GlowScript and the various HTML5 developments is
that GlowScript is 3D rather than 2D. It uses the new WebGL 3D graphics
library that is included in modern browsers. GlowScript programs are very
similar to VPython programs (vpython.org) but are based on JavaScript
instead of Python and run in browsers. There is even a converter that does
a partial but useful job of converting a VPython program to a GlowScript
program. There is also the option to use CoffeeScript instead of
JavaScript. CoffeeScript looks rather like Python, and it compiles to
JavaScript.

Browser compatibility is no longer a problem for GlowScript, as long as
your browser is up to date. At glowscript.org, click Help. On the first
page is browser information, where you'll see that GlowScript programs do
now run on all browsers, though in some cases you have to turn on support
for WebGL (instructions are included in the Help). The real compatibility
issue is no longer with browsers but whether you have a graphics card that
contains GPUs (Graphical Processing Units), and whether your graphics
driver is up to date.

Also, when editing a file in GlowScript you can click "Share this program"
which gives you the option to get a link to post for running the program or
to get preprocessed code that you can insert into a page of your own web
site, removing the "software layer between you and your web page".

Click the following link and you are likely to see a 3D animation of the
ball and spring model of a solid. If not, see the browser information on
the first page of the Help at glowscript.org:

http://www.glowscript.org/#/user/GlowScriptDemos/folder/Examples/program/AtomicSolid

Or at glowscript.org, click "Example programs" to see a variety of demos.

Bruce