This is an overview page for Perspectives. It contains links to relevant websites, to Github projects and to documentation.
You don't need to install anything to run Perspectives. It operates completely in the browser and is available on mycontexts.com. It is guaranteed to run in Chrome and FireFox and we aim for support in Safari. MyContexts is a WebApp that can be installed on a users' local machine.
However, since Perspectives supports you with an information infrastructure in co-operation with other people, you will need a place to store (your) data. There is no central repository! Currently you can choose from the IndexedDB database in your browser (the automatic option) or an installation of Couchdb on a computer you can access from the computer you use Perspectives on (it can be the same computer). To access that type installation of installation, visit [the manage page](the manage page). This requires some installation work, however, involving Couchdb and Apache. See the document Configuring Couchdb for Inplace 8.
By far the easiest option is to use the browser-local database.
Please remember that Perspectives is a work in progress. We consider it to be a Beta version.
Four documents respectively introduce the Perspectives Language, give its syntax and an (informal) description of its semantics.
The authoritive reference of the Perspectives Language can be found here:
However, we're in the process of writing a new reference manual. The start of that can be found here: new reference manual
There is a website with all the published technical documentation, given the design decisions and many explanations of mechanisms, at times quite detailed.
A start has been made with the end user guide to MyContexts.
A small tutorial to get started is available (NOTE: it is not quite up to date).
As experience with modelling builds up, we have started with a list of best practices or Aspect Patterns.
Finally, we have a collection of advice for developers of MyContexts or the Perspectives Distributed Runtime: Developing Perspectives and MyContexts.
Perspectives is open source software (with the exception of the EA plugin). Its sources can be found on Github. Currently, the following repositories are available (all projects are written in the Purescript language unless otherwise specified):
Use the models page to explore a number of current models.
We've also made a start with the website modelingperspectives.com. Perspect IT (io) develops a plugin for Enterprise Architect. This is a tool for architects/modellers to create a Perspectives model in a graphical version of the language. There is not much there, yet, to see. However, the tool is quite sophisticated and is presented twice a year as part of a postdoc course on Business modelling.
We also have a series of columns on Perspectives on Medium.
We've compared Perspectives with Blockchain in a number of articles, too:
Perspectives is under active development. Currently, a Beta version is available with limited end user functionality. Please refer to the core project for more details. This project also contains source documentation.
The first report by the Accessibility Foundation and what we've done with it:
The second report by the Accessibility Foundation:
The recommendations in this report will find their way in MyContexts from version v0.19 onwards.
Here is how we handle the issues and recommendations reported by Radically Open Security:
the second report by Radically Open Security can be found here:
Here is how we will handle their recommendations:
Then the third evaluation by Radically Open Security:
Cor Baars and Joop Ringelberg
This work is kindly by NLnet as the project "Practical Tools to Build the Context Web" in 2021.
It also received support from NLnet as the project "A Distributed Software Stack For Co-operation" under project number 2019-06-024 during 2020.
It currently receives support from NLnet as the project "Perspectives: Making Models" under project number 2022-10-089 in 2023.