Monthly Archives: July 2022

What is the permaweb?

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The permaweb is composed of web pages and services running on the arweave blockchain. We are planning to post a version of the ReactorLab web site on the permaweb.

Why? Since arweave is a blockchain, web sites posted to its blockchain are permanently stored on the peer network. This service is provided for a one-time fee, which is computed to provide distributed storage long into the future.

If ReactorLab.net’s current host goes out of business, or our lifetime hosting plan ends with our life, the permaweb version will live on.

We thank onlyArweave.com for introducing us to arweave and the permaweb. We use the Simply Static WordPress plugin to export a static version of the site, then upload the site to ardrive, which puts it on the arweave permaweb. The one-time payment in AR tokens is made using the arconnect wallet browser extension. Dynamic sites which store and retrieve data on the permaweb can also be hosted there.

What is a blockchain? See our Web Labs on Blockchain, Crypto.

Please send us a message letting us know what you think at support@reactorlab.net

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What happened to the desktop Lab?

Reactor Lab history, Software Development, Web apps, Web Labs, Web Site

As of July, 2022, I am no longer providing downloads of the desktop versions of our software.

After retiring from the university eight years ago, I stopped maintaining the desktop (standalone, executable) versions for several reasons.

The main reason is that web technology has developed to the point that interactive web apps can be written once, then distributed and run on all varieties of smart phones and computers. One important development has been the dramatically increased speed of Javascript in web browsers, which enables fast computation and graphics animation.

Another reason is that I have chosen not to spend the cost in time and money required to update and build desktop executables for multiple operating systems, as the versions of our development tool, LiveCode, and operating systems change.

The source code of our desktop software is posted at our GitHub site.

Please see our Web Labs, for which the source code is also posted at our GitHub site.

Please send us a message letting us know what you think at support@reactorlab.net

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