I've previously blogged about the unexpected complications of minor features, which covers how adding a seemingly small software change can turn out t

Simple software things that are actually very complicated

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2022-05-12 17:30:08

I've previously blogged about the unexpected complications of minor features, which covers how adding a seemingly small software change can turn out to be much more difficult than anticipated. There's also a related phenomenon in the software world: complex and sophisticated pieces of software that are so robust and easy-to-use, that they create an impression of being simple. A text input field is a good example. It looks simple - just a box you type text in to, right? It's a basic thing everyone who uses computers is familiar with. Yet it includes a huge amount of hidden complexity.

This sometimes comes up with our HTML5 game engine Construct. Most content renders in to a canvas, including text. It's possible to use HTML content on top of that, but sometimes it's useful to actually have things render in to the canvas instead, so you can do things like apply WebGL effects to them, draw other content on top, and so on. So sometimes people ask us: can't you just take <some feature> from HTML, and have it render in a canvas? Even in just a simple form?

When you write text in HTML, the browser handles wrapping text for you. When the text reaches the right edge of its box, it instead moves down a line and then carries on. How hard can it be?