Recursive Mini Converters

Recursive Mini Converters is our newest tool.

This tool is a proof of concept for the notion of recursive forms and recursive mini converters. It is available at

http://minerazzi.com/tools/recursive-mini-converters/recursive-mini-converters.php

On Recursive Forms

If a single-line text field is used for input and output it can be called a two-way field. If this is the only text field that is visible at the front-end of a form, we may call said form a two-way mini form. If this form processes input and output by means of conversion factors, then said form defines a mini converter. If the output becomes the new input, the new output depends on the previous one and a recursive form and recursive mini converter is obtained.

With that in mind, we show that recursive mini converters:

—can be coded using pure PHP; i.e., no framework, JQuery, or JavaScript are needed.
—are suitable for small screen displays like smartphones and tablets.
—add non-intrusive unit conversion capabilities to other web tools when placed on same page.
—can coexist on a web page, independent from each other, and without collisions.

It remains to show that multiple mini converters can be incorporated into a single form, but this is not challenging.

Applications/Future Work

Recursive mini forms are not just for building unit converters. These can be used for:

–Recursive Queries: Searching multidimensional associative arrays and databases.
–Recursive Calculations: Computing terms from equations.
–Recursive Mapping: Finding Equivalencies.
–Recursive Associations: Concepts Mapping.
–…and more.