# Core Scenic Library
[](https://codecov.io/gh/boydm/scenic)
Scenic is a client application library written directly on the
Elixir/Erlang/OTP stack. With it you can build applications that operate
identically across all supported operating systems, including MacOS, Ubuntu,
Nerves/Linux, and more.
Scenic is primarily aimed at fixed screen connected devices (IoT), but can also
be used to build portable applications.
See the [getting started guide](https://hexdocs.pm/scenic/getting_started.html) and the [online documentation](https://hexdocs.pm/scenic/) for more information. Other resources available are:
- [Introducing Scenic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QNxLNMq3Uw), a video from ElixirConf 2018, which introduces Scenic and the problems it strives to solve.
# Current Status! __Important!__
Version 0.11 is a major upgrade. There are numerous breaking changes. The docs have been upgraded, but will get another pass before it leaves beta. The upgrade guide (in the docs) explains the major pieces.
__READ THAT FIRST__
Please note that when v.11 is out of beta it will move into the /ScenicFramework org on GitHub...
## Goals
- **Available:** Scenic takes full advantage of OTP supervision trees to create
applications that are fault-tolerant, self-healing, and highly available under
adverse conditions.
- **Small and Fast:** The only core dependencies are Erlang/OTP and OpenGL.
- **Self Contained:** "Never trust a device if you don't know where it keeps its
brain." The logic to run a device should be on the device and it should remain
operational even if the service it talks to becomes unavailable.
- **Maintainable:** Each device knows how to run itself. This lets teams focus
on new products and only updating the old ones as the business needs.
- **Remotable:** Scenic devices know how to run themselves, but can still be
accessed remotely. Remote traffic attempts to be as small so it can be used
over the Internet, cellular modems, Bluetooth, etc. This is actively under
development and coming soon.
- **Reusable:** Collections of UI can be packaged up for reuse with, and across
applications. I expect to see Hex packages of controls, graphs, and more
available for Scenic applications.
- **Flexible:** Scenic uses matrices similar to game development to position
everything. This makes reuse, scale, positioning and more very flexible and
simple.
- **Secure:** Scenic is designed with an eye towards security. For now, the main
effort is to keep it simple. No browser, Javascript, and other complexity
presenting vulnerabilities. There will be much more to say about security
later.
## Non-Goals
- **Browser:** Scenic is **not** a web browser. It is aimed at a fixed screen
devices and certain types of windowed apps. It knows nothing about HTML.
- **3D:** Scenic is a 2D UI framework. It uses techniques from game development
(such as transform matrices), but it does not support 3D drawing at this time.
- **Immediate Mode:** In graphics speak, Scenic is a retained mode system. If
you need immediate mode, then Scenic isn't for you. If you don't know what
retained and immediate modes are, then you are probably just fine. For
reference: HTML is a retained mode model.
## Contributing
We appreciate any contribution to Scenic.
However, please understand that Scenic is still fairly new and as such, we'll be
keeping an extra-close eye on changes.
Check the [Code of Conduct](.github/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) and [Contributing
Guides](.github/CONTRIBUTING.md) for more information. We usually keep a list of
features and bugs in the issue tracker.
The easiest way to contribute is to help fill out the documentation. Please see
the [Contributing Guides](.github/CONTRIBUTING.md) first.
