Kaleidoscope

version 1.0

If you see this image, your browser isn't Java-enabled. This Java applet creates figures like these of specified size, and they change with time.

Mouse control

The kaleidoscope changes until you move the mouse out of its boundary, then it stops. It starts up again when your mouse is back over it.

More examples

There is a page of six small kaleidoscopes, and one with a big one, too.

Parameters

The kaleidoscope applet requires one parameter, the number of sides on the kaleidoscope (should be even, at least 4). The height and width parameters for the applet also need to be specified (usually the same).

There are three optional parameters (added in version 1.0, August, 1996). One is background, the background color of the applet, the second is lens, the backtround color of the kaleidoscope (the regular polygon in which all the figures appear). The third optional parameter is timeout, the number of milliseconds between displaying figures.

History and source

I originally wrote the program in 1983 in Pascal to display on a Tectronix 4105 terminal. Version 0.0 completed in Java in Nov., 1995. Version 1.0 in Aug., 1996. Here's the source code in Java.

And a link to Brett Bensley's Kaleidoscope Resource page.

David E. Joyce