Open Wizard Assistants

OpenWizardAssistants is a new Open Source project intended to stand the traditional software wizard concept on its pointy little head.

The basic idea is to create open source software assistants for the real wizards: programmers.

The assistants make use of but do not replace a combination of several common software application models:

• Hyperlinked Text, including but not necessarily limited to wikis
• Source Code (both compiled and interpreted)
• Shells and Shell Scripts

They have several purposes:

• Getting the job done
• Helping the user understand why the job is important
• Helping the user discover and explore alternative methods
• Helping the user understand exactly how the job is done

All OpenWizardAssistants software and related documentation is to be open source and protected under the GPL

Features: OpenWizardAssistants must

• Expose its internal semantic and operational structure visually
• Provide direct access all calling interfaces used and their documentation
• Provide direct or indirect access to the source code that implements its user interface and operational components.
• Be written in such a way that they can easily be converted between different software tool sets

Optional Features: OpenWizardAssistants may

• Form their own Integrated Development Environment
• May contain multiple implementations using different toolsets and libraries
• Use a wiki as an IDE

--PatCallahan

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