About:

Here is my [peetm] Sayings Viewer - v1.1.111.

I use this as a warm-up thingmy on any class I teach that has anything to do with computing [that's most of 'em] ... e.g., it's used on the variety of programming classes that I teach here at Oxford University - and on all the classes I tutor at the Open University.

The Sayings Viewer currently contains 1,392 built-in sayings, remarks, observations, words-of-wisdom, [and humour] ... most of which should have students/programmers/engineers: smiling, laughing, crying [in that order?] or nodding their approval [and possibly reaching for their pens].

However, as you can replace the default sayings with your own - or customize the default set [details further down] - and do the same with the background image [fonts, timings, ...], you could use the Sayings Viewer in any situation in which you'd like to display random or sequential messages to an audience.

OS it runs on? Well here's a hint. The full setup program won't run on anything less than Windows 2000 - so if you want to 'try' this on some earlier version of Windows, you'll need to use the zipped exe. I have only tested the program on XP!

"It goes against the grain of modern education to teach students to program. What fun is there to making plans, acquiring discipline, organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail, and learning to be self critical."

Alan J. Perlis

Getting It:

Here's a link to an executable [zipped - 6Mb].

Using it:

"I think complexity is mostly sort of crummy stuff that is there because it's too expensive to change the interface."

Jaron Lanier

Using Custom Sayings:

The Sayings viewer can be configured so as to use a custom sayings-file in three different ways.

1. Using the built-in import function [see the setup dialog].

2. Passing the name of the sayings-file to the viewer as a command-line argument [as part of a Desktop shortcut perhaps].

3. Placing the sayings-file in the same folder as the Sayings Viewer, and naming it sayings.txt or sayings.say [overrides method 2].

The sayings-file must be in a recognisable format of course. To see how such a thing should be formatted it is suggested that you export the current [default] sayings to a file via the built-in export function [see the setup dialog].

Note that any line beginning with a // in the sayings file is treated as a comment line, i.e., it is ignored.

.say Files:

You should find that any file with a .say file extension [.say is the default file extension used when exporting sayings] will be associated with the Sayings Viewer - this means that if you were to double-click a .say file, the Sayings Viewer will open and use the file. Note however that a local .say/.txt file [see above] will override this.

Markup:

Sayings may contain any of these special 'tags' [export the built-in sayings to see how these are used]:

_CRLF_ : Replaced with a carriage-return line-feed sequence at runtime.

_HASH_ : Replaced with the # character at runtime.

_DBLQUOTE_ : Replaced with a double-quote at runtime.

_TABISH_ : Replaced with two spaces, a hyphen and another two spaces.

_INDENT_ : Replaced with eight space characters.

Feedback:

Any bugs, typos, or suggestions for additions/deletions/attributions? Please let me know - There's an email link in the viewer's About box.
P.S. I expect that my viewer will be updated and enhanced pretty damn often! - so, remember to revisit this webpage for updates, esp. if you've suggested any changes!!!!

A Few More Screenshots:

"Let's go!"
Robin

"Not you, Robin. They have strict licensing laws in this country. A boy of your age is not allowed in a drinking tavern."

Batman

"Sod that"
peetm!