1# The Intended Scope And Purpose Of Pikchr
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3Pikchr is a specialized tool designed for one specific purpose:
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5  *  Pikchr generates diagrams for technical documentation written in
6     Markdown or similar markup languages using an enduring language that
7     is easy for humans to read and maintain using a generic text
8     editor.
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10To this end, Pikchr diagrams are designed to be:
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12  *  Cross platform → Pikchr is not tied to any particular
13     computer architecture or operating system.  The current implementation
14     is a single file of generic C code using no external resources apart
15     from the standard C library.
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17  *  Simple, well-defined, and easy-to-learn syntax.
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19  *  Enduring → The diagram source text should be easily readable,
20     editable, and understandable by people not yet born.  Pikchr is based
21     on the [PIC][1] language, which was developed in the early 1980s.
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23[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pic_language
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25What Pikchr is <u>not</u>:
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27  *  Pikchr is not intended for marketing graphics.  Pikchr
28     strives to present information in a dry and mathematical style.
29     The objective of Pikchr is to convey truth, not feeling.
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31  *  Pikchr is not intended for generating charts and graphs.  It could
32     perhaps be used for this.  One might propose extensions to make it more
33     suitable for this.  But that is not its current purpose.
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35  *  Pikchr is not intended to generate CAD/CAM images.  The rendered
36     diagrams are close enough to display concepts, but do not have the
37     pixel-perfect precision required for CAD/CAM.
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39  *  Pikchr is not intended as a replacement for point-and-click diagrams
40     creation software.  Pikchr is to point-and-click systems as
41     Markdown is to MS-Word or Google-Docs.  Point-and-click interfaces
42     have their place.  But so do text-based systems such as Markdown and
43     Pikchr.
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