Re: Tesla Software

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Tesla Software
From: "Chad A. Madison" <chadwick-at-flash-dot-net>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 12:16:16 -0500
At 10:25 PM 7/1/96 -0600, you wrote:
>From armitage-at-tiac-dot-netMon Jul  1 22:13:51 1996
>Date: Mon, 1 Jul 1996 17:55:48 -0400
>From: Graham Armitage <armitage-at-tiac-dot-net>
>To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>Subject: Tesla Software
>
>Hi everybody,
>
>I have been following the list from the sidelines lately as I have been busy
>writing some computer software that may be of benefit to you all. But before
>I continue I need to throw some thoughts out there to get some feed back.
>
>Firstly, I will make this program freely available to everybody but need a
>little input as to what other Tesla coil builders really want to see in a
>software program. I don't want to make just another calculator program but
>rather and enhanced application with usefull data and other features. This
>is where I need the help of you people. 
>
>At the moment I have been working on the calculation side trying to provide
>as much flexibility for the user as possible. In connection with this I am
>using the traditional Medhurst, Wheeler etc.. formulae, however there may be
>people with a lot more experience than myself that have come across better
>formulae for some of these applications, or have found shortcomings in these
>old formulae.
>
>In addition to the calculations, It would be nice to get some fresh ideas on
>what people REALLY want to do with a Tesla Coil design program and how they
>would like to see it done. So please don't be shy (like that's possible!!).
>Now is your chance to get in on the act. 
>
>The software is being written for Windows 3.1, 95 and NT. Graphics and
>photos are a must. 
>
>Thanks very much and I will keep you informed. 
>Graham Armitage
>

Cosmetics are REALLY important when it comes to software.  I have written
several programs and noticed that when I was showing it to other people they
always made comments about how they liked how it LOOKED.  Including some
animated gifs here and there, coordinating colors and fonts, simple little
things like these are very important when it comes to pleasing the user.

As far as the calculations side of the program, I really enjoyed one piece
of software that was called the complete Tesla Designer.  It took various
pieces of data and compiled them together, telling you a hypothetical output
that was actually fairly accurate.

What language are you hacking in?
                                       \/   \     /
 Chad Alan Madison                      \   /     \
 BSEE Undergraduate Student              \ /  \   /
 University of Texas at Austin            \  /  //
 Member: Tesla Coil Society                \/  \/
 http://www.flash-dot-net/~chadwick/           ||  ||
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