Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

Awesome Lists | Featured Topics | Projects

https://github.com/propensive/phoenicia

Read TrueType and OpenType fonts in Scala
https://github.com/propensive/phoenicia

font-metrics fonts opentype opentype-fonts scala truetype

Last synced: about 1 month ago
JSON representation

Read TrueType and OpenType fonts in Scala

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

        
[GitHub Workflow](https://github.com/propensive/phoenicia/actions)

[](https://discord.com/invite/MBUrkTgMnA)




# Phoenicia



__Read TrueType and OpenType fonts in Scala__



TrueType and OpenType fonts have become a _de facto_ standard for describing

how character data, or _text_, should be visually rendered. As binary data,

font files are not as straightforward to read as many other files. This is

particularly true of `TrueType` and `OpenType` fonts, which can include a

variety of font-related data, not all of which is needed for all applications:

_most_ of the data in a font file is exists to describe the shapes of each

glyph, which is not easy to work with. So usually, reading font files is left

to graphics software, web browsers or the operating system.



But there remains useful data (or _metadata_) in a font file which many

applications can take advantage of. In particular this includes font metrics

data, essentially the widths of glyphs, and information about the font's weight

or slant. _Phoenicia_ provides read-only access to this data.



## Features



- reads TrueType and OpenType font files

- can read from any [Turbulence](https://github.com/propensive/turbulence/) source

- access font metrics and calculate widths of individual glyphs or strings of text



## Availability



## Getting Started



All terms and types are defined in the `phoenicia` package:

```scala

import phoenicia.*

```



### Reading a TTF font



A TrueType font, which usually has the `.ttf` extension, can be loaded from any

value [Turbulence](https://github.com/propensive/turbulence/) source that can

be read as `Bytes`, and includes files on disk (using

[Galilei](https://github.com/propensive/galilei/)), classpath resources (using

[Hellenism](https://github.com/propensive/hellenism/)) or URLs (using

[Telekinesis](https://github.com/propensive/telekinesis/)).



A new `Ttf` object can be created using the `Ttf` factory, like so:

```scala

val font = Ttf(url"https://example.com/typography.ttf")

```



This will capture the binary data of the font, but will not interpret it; that

will be performed lazily on different parts of the, only when it is needed.



#### Reading an OTF font



Currently, _Phoenicia_ does not provide any features that are unique to

OpenType fonts; every feature is supported by both TrueType and OpenType fonts.

So it is sufficient to use the `Ttf` factory to load OTF files too. At a later

time, it may be necessary to provide an `Otf` factory as well.



### Operations on `Ttf`s



The only useful operation currently implemented on `Ttf` instances is the

`advanceWidth` method, which takes a `Char` value and returns its width as a

number of font design units. This width is specifically its _advance width_,

the amount of horizontal distance traveled to accommodate the glyph before the

next glyph; typically a lower value for a narrow character like `l` than for a

wide character like `w`.



A related method, width, takes a `Text` value, and returns the sum of the

advance widths of its characters, when rendered at normal spacing. The result

is specified in `ems`, with the type `Quantity[Ems[1]]`.



## Status



Phoenicia is classified as __embryotic__. For reference, Soundness projects are

categorized into one of the following five stability levels:



- _embryonic_: for experimental or demonstrative purposes only, without any guarantees of longevity

- _fledgling_: of proven utility, seeking contributions, but liable to significant redesigns

- _maturescent_: major design decisions broady settled, seeking probatory adoption and refinement

- _dependable_: production-ready, subject to controlled ongoing maintenance and enhancement; tagged as version `1.0.0` or later

- _adamantine_: proven, reliable and production-ready, with no further breaking changes ever anticipated



Projects at any stability level, even _embryonic_ projects, can still be used,

as long as caution is taken to avoid a mismatch between the project's stability

level and the required stability and maintainability of your own project.



Phoenicia is designed to be _small_. Its entire source code currently consists

of 238 lines of code.



## Building



Phoenicia will ultimately be built by Fury, when it is published. In the

meantime, two possibilities are offered, however they are acknowledged to be

fragile, inadequately tested, and unsuitable for anything more than

experimentation. They are provided only for the necessity of providing _some_

answer to the question, "how can I try Phoenicia?".



1. *Copy the sources into your own project*

   

   Read the `fury` file in the repository root to understand Phoenicia's build

   structure, dependencies and source location; the file format should be short

   and quite intuitive. Copy the sources into a source directory in your own

   project, then repeat (recursively) for each of the dependencies.



   The sources are compiled against the latest nightly release of Scala 3.

   There should be no problem to compile the project together with all of its

   dependencies in a single compilation.



2. *Build with [Wrath](https://github.com/propensive/wrath/)*



   Wrath is a bootstrapping script for building Phoenicia and other projects in

   the absence of a fully-featured build tool. It is designed to read the `fury`

   file in the project directory, and produce a collection of JAR files which can

   be added to a classpath, by compiling the project and all of its dependencies,

   including the Scala compiler itself.

   

   Download the latest version of

   [`wrath`](https://github.com/propensive/wrath/releases/latest), make it

   executable, and add it to your path, for example by copying it to

   `/usr/local/bin/`.



   Clone this repository inside an empty directory, so that the build can

   safely make clones of repositories it depends on as _peers_ of `phoenicia`.

   Run `wrath -F` in the repository root. This will download and compile the

   latest version of Scala, as well as all of Phoenicia's dependencies.



   If the build was successful, the compiled JAR files can be found in the

   `.wrath/dist` directory.



## Contributing



Contributors to Phoenicia are welcome and encouraged. New contributors may like

to look for issues marked

[beginner](https://github.com/propensive/phoenicia/labels/beginner).



We suggest that all contributors read the [Contributing

Guide](/contributing.md) to make the process of contributing to Phoenicia

easier.



Please __do not__ contact project maintainers privately with questions unless

there is a good reason to keep them private. While it can be tempting to

repsond to such questions, private answers cannot be shared with a wider

audience, and it can result in duplication of effort.



## Author



Phoenicia was designed and developed by Jon Pretty, and commercial support and

training on all aspects of Scala 3 is available from [Propensive

OÜ](https://propensive.com/).



## Name



The Phoenicians were responsible for creating the first recorded alphabet.

Their land, mostly modern-day Lebanon, was _Phoenicia_.



In general, Soundness project names are always chosen with some rationale,

however it is usually frivolous. Each name is chosen for more for its

_uniqueness_ and _intrigue_ than its concision or catchiness, and there is no

bias towards names with positive or "nice" meanings—since many of the libraries

perform some quite unpleasant tasks.



Names should be English words, though many are obscure or archaic, and it

should be noted how willingly English adopts foreign words. Names are generally

of Greek or Latin origin, and have often arrived in English via a romance

language.



## Logo



The logo shows a close-up view of a character in a _serif_ font.



## License



Phoenicia is copyright © 2024 Jon Pretty & Propensive OÜ, and

is made available under the [Apache 2.0 License](/license.md).