I’m pleased to announce the first release of WireIt (version 0.1) !
WireIt is a javascript library that allows you to create cool wires like Yahoo Pipes. It is built upon:
- the CANVAS tag to render the wires
- the YUI Library v2.3.1
- excanvas for IE support
It comes with some examples (see the home page) and an application example, the Planar Game.
Why would you make such a library ? After playing a lot with Yahoo! Pipes, I realized how powerful it was to create mashups. I was already used to visual programming Languages like PureData or Mac OS Automator, but they’re definitly not able to do mashups.
However, Yahoo Pipes has this big inconvenient to run your pipes on their web servers. It has at least two disadvantages. First, it means we will always be restricted to the modules and types they implemented. You could always create a restful webservice and wrap it into a pipe, but the execution time blows up. Second disadvantage, you have to be careful with your data privacy. Indeed, I would like to create some Mashups that could mix with my private data in a more secure way.
That’s how I started to develop a Yahoo pipes-like application, and how I ran into this stumble block: “How the hell did they do those pipes ?”.
Waiting for your feedback,
Eric