#+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: http://svjatoslav.eu
  - Email: mailto://svjatoslav@svjatoslav.eu

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

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

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

- Clone Git repository using command:
  : git clone http://www2.svjatoslav.eu/git/sixth.git

* Vision - A tool to amplify human ability
  :PROPERTIES:
  :ID:       1f4e1c17-d25f-4d92-aa9b-5785f1d86f4f
  :END:
Idea is to design all encompassing, flexible and powerful virtual
environment where I can live in and very efficiently do all my
computing tasks enjoyably and with playful ease.

Examples of extendable environments where one can live in and do
  almost everything:
  + [[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 [[https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/j-cb02067/j-cb02067-pdf.pdf][Lisp]]
                 runtime.

  + [[https://www.eclipse.org/ide/][Eclipse IDE]] :: In essence [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSGi][OSGi]] platform with a text editor.

In both cases you can develop/install plugins for every purpose
imaginable.


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

+ Makes lots of complex data intuitive to:
  - explore, understand
  - manipulate and compute on

+ Extensively relying on:
  - [[http://www3.svjatoslav.eu/projects/sixth-3d/][Realtime 3D graphics]] with immediate feedback loop.

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

+ [[http://www3.svjatoslav.eu/projects/sixth-data/][Flexible and distributed computation and data storage]].

+ Cross device:
  + Easily switch and/or combine computers to work seamlessly on any
    tasks.

  + User interface, data, software, running proceses etc are not
    contained to any device.

* Current status
+ Formulated high-level [[id:1f4e1c17-d25f-4d92-aa9b-5785f1d86f4f][vision / goal]].

+ In the process of implementing some of building blocks:
  - [[http://www3.svjatoslav.eu/projects/sixth-data/][Data storage engine.]]

  - [[http://www3.svjatoslav.eu/projects/sixth-3d/][In software, pure Java realtime 3D rendering engine.]]
    - [[http://www3.svjatoslav.eu/projects/sixth-3d-demos/][3D engine demos]]

+ System is nowhere near complete (given magnitude of effort required
  and my free time available). Contributions welcome ! :)

* Computation ideas
+ Program - stored instructions for execution by computer.

+ Process - Currently running program.
  + Process is self contained. Has a full copy of program code and
    every dependent library.

    + Memory used by processes is content addressed/deduplicated at
      low level in the system.

    + This allows:
      + Upgrading software installed in the system without breaking
        already running processes.

      + Easier migration of running processes between physical
        computers.

      + Possibility to suspend/resume arbitrary processes to permament
        storage.

      + Possibility checkpoint/revert running process.

      + Possibility to clone/branch running process.

* 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 [[http://www3.svjatoslav.eu/projects/fifth/][Fifth]]
    (computing/programming environment).
  - Then I realized I miss type safe object oriented capabilities. So
    I updated the name to Sixth and switched to Java.