#+TITLE: Sixth - system for data storage, computation, exploration and interaction

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* General
- This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
  it under the terms of the [[https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html][GNU Lesser General Public License]] as
  published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
  License, or (at your option) any later version.

- Program author:
  - Svjatoslav Agejenko
  - Homepage: https://svjatoslav.eu
  - Email: mailto://svjatoslav@svjatoslav.eu

- [[https://www.svjatoslav.eu/projects/][Other software projects hosted at svjatoslav.eu]]

** Source code
+ Note - Sixth is currently empty parent/shell project. You can find
          working code under [[id:52dbbf4c-2ef4-42a6-8331-ad006b6a52ae][sub-projects]].

- [[https://www2.svjatoslav.eu/gitweb/?p=sixth.git;a=snapshot;h=HEAD;sf=tgz][Download latest snapshot in TAR GZ format]]

- [[https://www2.svjatoslav.eu/gitweb/?p=sixth.git;a=summary][Browse Git repository online]]

- Clone Git repository using command:
  : git clone https://www2.svjatoslav.eu/git/sixth.git
* Vision - A tool to amplify human ability
  :PROPERTIES:
  :ID:       1f4e1c17-d25f-4d92-aa9b-5785f1d86f4f
  :END:
Goal is, so called bicycle for the mind.

A tool, that provides powerful, extensible, adaptable, hackable, easy
to use, general purpose environment for working with knowledge.

[[id:c19c5a3b-dfb0-4f7f-961c-a387b925669f][See extensible, programmable computing environment examples]].

I would like to create better general purpose environment with the
following priorities:

+ Makes data and insights easy to discover, understand, manipulate,
  transform and visualize.

+ Workflow and user interface is intuitive, visual, realtime,
  3D-first.

  #+BEGIN_QUOTE
  “Virtual reality holds the key to the evolution of the human mind”
  Dr. Lawrence Angelo, The Lawnmower Man (1992)
  #+END_QUOTE

+ Computations are done primarily in [[https://www3.svjatoslav.eu/projects/sixth-data/][on versioned data in distributed,
  scalable, arbitrary dimensional hypercube based geometrical
  computation engine]].

+ Free and open.

+ Network first:
  + Cross device:
    + Easily switch devices and still access same data, workspaces and
      visualizations.
    + Easily access and combine storage and computing resources of
      other connected devices.

  + Ability to collaborate (multi user).

** Extensible, programmable computing environment examples
  :PROPERTIES:
  :ID:       c19c5a3b-dfb0-4f7f-961c-a387b925669f
  :END:
+ [[https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2008/04/27/one-program-to-rule-them-all/][GNU Emacs]] - At the heart, Emacs is text editor on top of Lisp
  runtime. Data storage and computation can be done in [[https://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp.html][Lisp]]. Lisp is
  on itself programmable programming language where new paradigms can
  be added dynamically. Domain specific languages to fit particular
  problem could be developed as needed and Emacs extended to support
  those languages. Emacs provides text buffers that can be used to
  build user interfaces. So you can customize Emacs and Lisp to fit
  any problem domain.

+ [[https://www.eclipse.org/ide/][Eclipse IDE]] - In essence [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSGi][OSGi]] platform with a text
  editor. Computation done in java. Eclipse provides integration,
  runtime and GUI platform. One can develop Eclipse plugins to add
  necessary logic and visual parts to fit any problem. (IntelliJ and
  NetBeans have similar properties)

+ [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Notes][IBM Notes/Domino]] - Custom database engine, software development
  platform, GUI editor, computation can be done in Java and
  LotusScript. You can build distributed business applications on it
  as a platform.

+ [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABAP][SAP ABAP]] - Custom database engine, runtime, GUI platform,
  development environment and programming language. Is being used as a
  platform to build business applications with any logic and UI.

+ [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Access][Microsoft Access]] - Database management system that combines
  relational database engine with a graphical user interface and
  software-development tools.
* Current status
+ Formulated high-level [[id:1f4e1c17-d25f-4d92-aa9b-5785f1d86f4f][vision / goal]].

+ In the process of implementing some of [[id:52dbbf4c-2ef4-42a6-8331-ad006b6a52ae][building blocks]].

+ System is nowhere near complete (given magnitude of effort required
  and almost non-existent free time available). Contributions are
  welcome !
* Architecture / components
  :PROPERTIES:
  :ID:       52dbbf4c-2ef4-42a6-8331-ad006b6a52ae
  :END:
+ [[https://www3.svjatoslav.eu/projects/sixth/][Sixth]] - Parent project.
  + [[https://www3.svjatoslav.eu/projects/sixth-data/][Sixth Data]] - Data storage and computation engine.
  + [[https://www3.svjatoslav.eu/projects/sixth-3d/][Sixth 3D]] - 3D engine - for user interface and data visualization.
    + [[https://www3.svjatoslav.eu/projects/sixth-3d-demos/][Sixth 3D engine demos]] - Demonstration of Sixth 3D engine capabilities.

* Frequently Given Answers
- Why such name ?
  - In short: it's just a number.
  - Many years ago inspired by the ideas of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_(programming_language)][Forth (programming
    language)]] I decided to create my own implementation [[https://www3.svjatoslav.eu/projects/fifth/][Fifth]]
    (computing/programming environment).
  - Forth/Fifth felt a bit too low-level language. So current
    project/approach is an attempt using Java.