tasks.texi

windows版本的emacs

@ignore  @c GNUskies should do this
@item
An ephemeris program to replace xephem (which is, alas, too restricted
to qualify as free software).
@end ignore

@c Gepetto (@url{http://laurent.riesterer.free.fr/gepetto/intro-main.html},
@c @email{laurent.riesterer@@free.fr}), according to @email{gnueval@@gnu.org},
@c does the job of displaing dancers but does not allow editing notation.


@item
Make sure the Vibrant toolkit works with LessTif instead of Motif.

@item
A program to display and edit Hypercard stacks.

@item
A two-dimensional outliner program, which lets you draw
graph structures of textual items, and then display them
in various ways.

@ignore  @c done
@item
A program for graphic morphing of scanned photographs.
@end ignore

@item
Software for designing and printing business cards.
@end itemize

@node Network Projects, Encryption Projects, X Windows Projects, Top
@chapter Network Projects

@itemize @bullet
@ignore
@c www.openh323.org is doing this. Craig Southeren <[e-mail]>
@item
A teleconferencing program which does the job of CU-SeeMe (which is,
alas, not free software).
@end ignore

@ignore
@c Bishop Bettini <[e-mail]> is working on this.
@item
A free ICQ-compatible server program.  (The ICQ server itself is not
free software.)
@end ignore

@end itemize

@node Encryption Projects, Other Projects, Network Projects, Top
@chapter Encryption Projects

These projects need to be written outside the US by people who are not
US citizens, to avoid problems with US export control law.

@itemize @bullet
@item
A free library for public-key encryption.  This library can probably be
developed from the code for the GNU Privacy Guard.
  
@item
An implementation of SSLv3 (more precisely, TLSv1) which has
distribution terms compatible with the GNU GPL.  We know of a
GPL-covered implemention of a version of SSL that you can use as a
starting point.

@item
Free software for doing secure commercial transactions on the web.
This too needs public key encryption.
@end itemize

@node Other Projects, Languages, Encryption Projects, Top
@chapter Other Projects

If you think of others that should be added, please
send them to @email{tasks@@gnu.org}.

@itemize @bullet
@ignore OpenBIOS is doing this
@item
A simple PC BIOS.  On most new PCs, the BIOS is stored in writable
memory (misleadingly known as ``flash ROM'').  In order to have a wholly
free system on these PCs, we need a free BIOS.

This task is made simpler by the fact that this BIOS need only support
enough features to enable a boot-loader such as LILO or GRUB to finish
loading the kernel.  Neither Linux nor Mach actually uses the BIOS once
it starts up.  Also, it is not absolutely necessary to do all the many
diagnostics that an ordinary BIOS does (though it would be useful to do
some of them).  However, there may be a need to configure certain data
in the computer in a way that is specific to each model of computer.
@end ignore

@item
An imitation of Page Maker or Ventura Publisher.

@item
An imitation of @code{dbase2} or @code{dbase3}.  (How dbased!)
Harbour, a free replacement for Clipper, would provide a useful start.
@uref{http://www.harbour-project.org/}.

@ignore  @c being done by Jonas etc.
@item
A general ledger program, including support for accounts payable, 
account receivables, payroll, inventory control, order processing, etc.
@end ignore

@item
A free replacement for Glimpse, which is not free software.
Swish does some parts of the job, but not all.

@item
Software for desktop publishing.  We are extending Emacs into a WYSIWYG
word processor, to handle primarily linear text; what this item proposes
is software focused on page layout.

@ignore It looks like TruePrint will fill this gap
@item
A program to typeset C code for printing, to make it easier to read on
paper.  For ideas on what to do, see the book,

@display
Human Factors and Typography for More Readable Programs,
Ronald M. Baecker and Aaron Marcus,
Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-10745-7
@end display

But you don't have to do exactly what they propose.
@end ignore

@ignore
@c This is now being worked on -- rms, 22 June 1998
@item
A program to convert Microsoft Word documents to text/enriched, TeX,
LaTeX, Texinfo, or some other format that free software can edit.
@end ignore

@ignore
@c People are helping the developer of siff release it as free software.

@item
A free replacement for siff (sometimes called sif).  This would be a
program to find similar files in a large file system, ``similar''
meaning that the files contain a significant number of common substrings
that are of a certain size or greater.  You can find some information
about siff (which is, unfortunately, not free software) at
@uref{ftp://ftp.cs.arizona.edu/reports/1993/TR93-33.ps.Z}.
@end ignore

@ignore
@c This is being developed -- rms, 3 May 1998
@item
A free replacement for the semi-free Qt library.
@end ignore

@ignore
@c Ogg Vorbis is doing this, see @url{http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/index.html} or contact @email{Monty <[e-mail]>}.

@item
High-quality music compression software.
(Talk with @email{mt@@sulaco.org} for relevant suggestions.)
Unfortunately we cannot implement the popular MP3 format
due to patents, so this job includes working out some other
non-patented format and compression method.
@end ignore

@item
A program to play sound distributed in ``Real Audio'' format.

@item
A program to generate ``Real Audio'' format from audio input.

@item
Programs to handle audio in RTSP format.

@ignore  @c Software patents have made this domain off limits to free software.
@item
An MPEG III audio encoder/decoder (but it is necessary to check, first,
whether patents make this impossible).

@c Chris Hofstader is working on a non-Festival speech-generation program.
@c Mario Lang <[e-mail]> reports that Festival needs only
@c to be 2-5 times faster to work well with Emacspeak.
@item
Speech-generation programs that are faster than the Festival engine.
This might be done by optimizing Festival.

@c We have a project now.
@item
Speech-recognition programs (single-speaker, disconnected speech is sufficient).
@end ignore

@item
A braille translation and formatting system which can convert marked up
documents into braille.  This should let the user customize the braille
translation rules; it would be good to divide it into a
device-independent part plus drivers.  Contact Jason White,
@email{jasonw@@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU}.

@ignore Being done
@item
A program to display text word by word, always showing just one word at
a time.  This method permits much faster reading than ordinary text
display.  If you want to work on this, contact @email{stutz@@dsl.org} to
learn more.
@end ignore

@item
More scientific mathematical subroutines.
(A clone of SPSS is being written already.)

@item
A scientific data collection and processing tool,
perhaps something like Scientific Workbench and/or Khoros,

@item
A program to calculate properties of molecules by solving
the Schroedinger equation.

@item
Software to replace card catalogs in libraries.

@item
A simulator for heating and air conditioning systems for buildings.

@ignore
@c Pat Deegan @email{pat@@psychogenic.com} is working on this.
@c no URL yet, the status is updated in @file{volunteers}

@item
A program for voting and tabulating election results.

@end ignore

@item
A package for editing genealogical records conveniently.
This could perhaps be done as a Gnome program, or perhaps
as an Emacs extension.

@ignore
@c ToutDoux aims to do this.

@item
A project-scheduling package that accepts a list of project sub-tasks
with their interdependencies, and generates Gantt charts and Pert charts
and all the other standard project progress reports.
@end ignore

@item
Grammar and style checking programs.

@item
A diagnostic program to test a hard disk.

@item
Optical character recognition programs; especially if suitable for
scanning documents with multiple fonts and capturing font info as well
as character codes.  Work is being done on this, but more help is needed.

@c Some of the OCR work being done:
@c   Luis Cearra <[e-mail]>, http://lem.eui.upm.es/ocre.html
@c The status of these projects is updated in @file{/gd/gnuorg/volunteers}

@item
A program to scan a line drawing and convert it to editable Postscript,
or some other editable format.

@item
A program to recognize handwriting (we don't believe PocketLinux's 
handwriting capability is ready for non-PocketLinux environments, yet).


@item
A program that can translate from one natural language, into another.
For example, a program to translate French into English.

@item
A pen based interface.

@item
CAD software, such as a vague imitation of Autocad.

@item
A program to receive data from a serial-line tap to facilitate the
reverse-engineering of communication protocols.

@item
A database program designed to store and retrieve patent information.

@item
A free software package to run on a Palm Pilot in place of its usual
software, doing more or less the usual jobs.  (Linux, the kernel, has
apparently been ported, but according to what we hear this port is not
useful yet.)

@end itemize

@node Languages, Education, Other Projects, Top
@chapter Programming Languages

Volunteers are needed to write parsers/front ends for languages such as
Algol 60, Algol 68, PL/I, Cobol, Fortran 90, Delphi, Modula 2, Modula 3,
RPG, and any other languages designed for compilation, to be used with
the code generation phases of the GNU C compiler.

@c Fortran status is here so [e-mail] and the volunteer coordinators
@c don't have to answer the question -len
You can get the status of the Fortran front end with this command:

@example
finger -l fortran@@gnu.org
@end example

We would like to have translators from various languages into Scheme.
These languages include TCL, Python, Perl, Java, Javascript, and Rexx.
Perhaps Clipper as well.

@node Education, Games and Recreations, Languages, Top
@chapter Education

Programs for studying, teaching or doing administrative tasks in schools.
See @uref{http://www.gnu.org/education/} for additional information.

@itemize @bullet
@item
A programm to organize automatically the schedule of a school given
constraints about teachers, rooms, times, and students.

@item
A program to edit dance notation (such as labanotation) and display
dancers moving on the screen.  Gepetto does some of this work.  Contact
@email{gvc@@gnu.org} if you are interested in helping finish the job.

@end itemize

@node Games and Recreations,  , Education, Top
@chapter Games and Recreations

Video-oriented games that work with the X window system.

@itemize @bullet
@item
Empire (there is a free version but it needs upgrading)

@item
An ``empire builder'' system that makes it easy to write various kinds of
simulation games.

@item
Improve GnuGo @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnugo/gnugo.html}, which is not yet very sophisticated. 

@item
Network servers and clients for board and card games for which such
software does not yet exist.

@item
A Hierarchical Task Network package which can be used
to program play the computer's side in various strategic games.

@item
A game like Mill/Nine Men's Morris.

@item
Write imitations of some popular video games:

@itemize -
@item
Space war, Asteroids, Pong, Columns.
@item
Defending cities from missiles.
@item
Plane shoots at lots of other planes, tanks, etc.
@item
Wizard fights fanciful monsters.
@item
A golf game.
@ignore Being done by [e-mail]
@item
Program a robot by sticking building blocks together,
then watch it explore a world.
@end ignore
@item
Biomorph evolution (as in Scientific American and @cite{The Blind
Watchmaker}).
@end itemize
@end itemize

We do not need @code{rogue}, as we have @code{hack}.

@contents

@bye
@c  LocalWords:  dir texi lastupdate uref http www org html helpgnu ifinfo ftp
@c  LocalWords:  dvi hurd toc gvc URL GTK XmHTML xs nl ripley NT com gettext Qt
@c  LocalWords:  GUI libstdc Docbook SGML libc sed STL Gforth GNUstep TCSH Perl
@c  LocalWords:  Ghostscript PIC GCC Texinfo grep dc bc ethernet GDB IP CIFS CU
@c  LocalWords:  SMB SVGA Khoros Automake OpenStep diff roff Smail tron veritas
@c  LocalWords:  cxref ctrace API LilyPond xephem labanotation LessTif outliner
@c  LocalWords:  Hypercard morphing SeeMe ICQ Diffie Helman RSA SSLv TLSv GPL
@c  LocalWords:  OpenBIOS BIOS LILO dbase dbased Harbour harbour WYSIWYG ISBN
@c  LocalWords:  TruePrint Baecker siff sif cs arizona edu TR ps mt sulaco MP
@c  LocalWords:  RTSP MPEG jasonw ariel ucs unimelb AU stutz dsl TCL Javascript
@c  LocalWords:  Rexx GnuGo jhall isd Biomorph regexp eval gd gnuorg
Local variables:
update-date-leading-regexp: "@c This date is automagically updated when you save this file:\n@set lastupdate "
update-date-trailing-regexp: ""
eval: (load "/gd/gnuorg/update-date.el")
eval: (add-hook 'write-file-hooks 'update-date)
compile-command: "make just-tasks"
End: