[hpsdr] Software direction.......from a non-programmer

[lstoskopf at cox.net]

>From a guy who hasn't programmed since using Fortran4 on an IBM 1130 when you didn't need all of the headers, declarations, etc., I really was shocked at all of the prep stuff needed in ,say C++, before you ever do anything.  My professional programmer guru patiently explained that it all is so that you can pick up a block of code that does what you want and easily interface with it and not mess up a block somewhere else.  We're talking airplane control systems here where errors are critical.

So I thought I could find the block of compiled code that handled the RF input, another that did CW demod, etc. and after linking them could tack on my choice of GUI and go.  Not that easy.  So why all of the header stuff needed?

Along came Cathy Moss with incredible GUI code for the QS1R.  Gone was that busy screen we are used to on early Flex software.  I don't need more than half of the screen with options for mode, bandwidth, etc.  She put them in pull down blocks.  Added a woman's touch to make the screen a real art form.  Updates came so fast , and a change that I requested, that for a bit I thought maybe Cathy was really Cathay, a group of Chinese ...........  No one could do so much so fast.

Then one of the hazards of user contributed software.  Cathy was gone. I hear so gone that she doesn't want to be found.   I kind of sort of understood that if you contributed to a GPL project it was implicitly under that license, but we do have lawyers on this list who know better.

I did hear at Dayton that there is an easy block SDR language, or did I get that wrong.  Just connect the blocks.

Since the Mac now runs Intel as do the Windows machines and most of our hard work seems to be done using the dttsp core, isn't there a way to set up universal blocks so they don't need to be revisited (often) and a simple way to connect to them in Linux, Windows, OS10 or whatever?  Why should I load in Skimmer if I only work SSB, etc.

Meanwhile we can only thank a handful of tireless programmers who make this great stuff work.

End of rant.  N0UU