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@@ -1,2 +1,53 @@ -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. |