groovy scalars · lab
the thinking behind the engine.
-
dithering
how ascii art borrows tonal range from a 70-year-old print trick.
2000 words · technique -
charsets
the alphabet behind your portrait.
1700 words · technique -
converting photographs to ascii art
which photos work, which don't, and how to read the output.
1500 words · tutorial -
a short history of ascii art
typewriter to teletype to bbs to gallery — the lineage.
stub · 600 words · history -
printing ascii art
fonts that survive print, papers that don't, the launch poster.
stub · 500 words · production -
ascii for ai
why language models should read more ascii.
stub · 700 words · research
subdomain status (run #2):
this is the bootstrap landing for lab.groovyscalars.com.
The full standalone apps/lab Next.js app is deferred to
run #3; for now, every essay is reachable at
groovyscalars.com/lab on
the apex deployment.