ColourMeGreen

An experiment in creating a simple notation for making terminal animations.

Named after the early banger by a favorite band.

Still a WIP.

Some desired functionalities:

• Movement functions, inc.:
  • jumping back to beginning of the last word
  • the ability to chain movement instructions
  • absolute and relative location
  • clearing the screen
• Full ANSI terminal color support
  • A stack of colors that can be pushed and popped
• The ability to sleep for periods of time
  • Set a BPM and sleep in terms of a number of beats
  • The ability to sleep for random periods of time
• A relatively simple notation (subject to change):
  • plain words are printed as-is
  • {terms in braces are commands}
  • {in | braces and | between | delimiters} are multiple commands
  • {+COLORNAME} adds a foreground color to the stack
  • {+colorname} adds a background color to the stack
  • {+Attributename} pushes an attribute to the stack
  • {-} pops a color/attribute from the stack; {- 3} pops 3; {- %} pops all
  • {:R} moves the cursor 1 space to the right; U, D and L behave as might be expected
  • {:3R} moves the cursor 3 spaces to the right, etc.
  • {:3R6U} moves the cursor 3 spaces to the right, then 6 up
  • {:b9D} moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous word, then 9 spaces down
  • {:r9D} moves the cursor to the beginning of the line, then 9 spaces down
  • {@12,7} moves the cursor to the point <12,7>
  • A literal number appended to the end of a word means a pause of that many beats for the word
  • An empty space between words prints a literal space with no pause
  • An underscore _ between words prints a literal space with a pause of one beat
  • A starting caret ^ is an anchor for pausing at the beginning of a line
  • A dollar sign $ is an anchor for pausing at the end of a line
  • To pause printing without writing a space, use a caret ^ instead of a space
• Maybe the ability to define macros

A tentative example, using the lyrics from the aforementioned song:

# comment
!! BPM = 400
CTHULHU!8
{+Faint|+GREEN}CTHULHU!0{:rU}CTHULHU!8{:2D|- % } $16
{+MAGENTA|+Faint}Vi4^o^let{- 2} _ flows _ from the wound2 in your2 _2 chest2 $12
{+black|+Reverse}Black4{- 2} is2 the hole3 in which _ you2 _3 rest2 $11
Your heart4 of2 _ {+YELLOW|+Faint|+Reverse}gold2{- %} _ was ripped _ in2 _3 two2 $12
{+GREEN}Soaked4{-|:D}in2{:D}the{+GREEN|:U}sickness5{-|:U}that{:D}is2{+GREEN|:D}you2{-} $15

With the progress so far, the above script outputs the following:

Some notes:

• Must handle spaces after words less naively
• Should add a clear-screen command
• Specific syntax for spaces isn't really necessary
• The beat-pause system would benefit from more precise time controls