lumiera_documentation/doc/technical/steam/index.txt

Technical Documentation: Steam-Layer
====================================

As implementation progresses, this section will gradually compile
the technical documentation for the Steam layer.

Development Scrapbook TiddlyWiki
--------------------------------
It is sometimes difficult to write complete documentation while a system is still under construction.
For taking work notes and formulating new ideas while working, _Ichthyostega_ frequently uses the
https://classic.tiddlywiki.com/[TiddlyWiki] -- which is a nifty JavaScript wiki embedded within a
single HTML page; as such it lives right within the source tree, where it can be worked on alongside
with the code. Notes and sketches for the planning often evolve into detailed descriptions, complete
with test data and UML diagrams to document the structure. Material drafted in the TiddlyWiki
will be moved gradually into this documentation section, as time permits.

This arrangement started as a temporary solution at a time where we did not have a suitable website
for permanent documentation -- and it was kept ever since, as the TiddlyWiki is very convenient
to work with, once you are accustomed to its quirks.footnote:[
  It is quite fluid and inspiring to work with indeed. The content is an unordered collection
  of small notepad pages, called ``Tiddlers'', which can be opened and closed conveniently.
  Any "CamelCaseWord" becomes a new Tiddler, recent changes appear in a timeline, and Tiddlers
  can be organised with tags. The only point to be careful is that you need to _save_
  your work, which can be achieved with the `save' action in the menu to overwrite
  the old version in the Git tree. Sometimes this might produce Git conflicts,
  which are easy to resolve, since the content is plain text.
]
Additions to the TiddlyWiki are usually made during coding, and are deliberately committed always
together with the corresponding code. As such, these additions will propagate to Lumiera/Master eventually;
yet to make the newest development notes easier to access, we have put up a `rsync`ed version of the
TiddlyWiki online for direct access over the internet (which then is of course read-only).

-> access the link:/wiki/renderengine.html[TiddlyWiki online here]