‍In an earlier post that described the new features in SuperLab 6, we mentioned a new run-time engine. This is the part of the software that takes over when you click on the Run button. I would like to elaborate a little bit more on this new engine, but first, you might wonder…

‍Why Change What’s Working?

‍One day, you take the lid off an old storage bin and find a project that you had so much fun doing in your youth, say 28 years ago. Maybe it was your school science project, or a birdhouse. And now you can’t help but wonder how you would build it differently, and better. You see, it is not only that you now have more experience. There are newer technologies, e.g. 3D printers, or some material that was expensive back then is now affordable.

‍Our own 28 year old project is SuperLab versions 1 through 5. Its original run-time engine was developed in 1991 for Mac System 7 on a Mac IIci with 4MB of RAM memory. That’s 1/2000th the amount of memory found in a typical year 2020 computer. SuperLab’s run-time engine employed techniques to load fonts and present pictures and sound files efficiently in that limited space.

‍It’s a different world today, and more is demanded of SuperLab, e.g. presenting movies. The rewritten run-time engine in version 6 handles the additional requirements with aplomb while nearly eliminating any remaining jitter. It is more efficient and yet simpler because the RAM memory that was expensive back then is now affordable.

‍The new run-time engine also lays a solid foundation for the future of SuperLab and the features that are planned for it.

‍The Changes You Can See

‍Much of what I described thus far is under the surface, but there are still a couple of changes that would affect your experiment.

‍Consistent Handling of Text

‍In SuperLab 5, drawing text was inconsistent across Mac and Windows computers. The Mac, on the left, showed a transparent background whereas Windows showed a solid white background. In SuperLab 6, both versions will now have a transparent background.

‍Improved Handling of PNG Files

‍One advantage of the PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file format over JPEG is its ability to have transparent or even translucent backgrounds. SuperLab 5 was not able to handle these; the new run-time engine in SuperLab 6 draws PNG files correctly.

‍Better Handling of Typed Text

‍SuperLab has been drawing Unicode text, e.g. Kanji or Hebrew, without a problem since version 4 shipped in 2006. But there was the occasional difficulty when prompting participants to type words or sentences in non-Western languages. SuperLab 6 handles typed text well in any language.

‍Improved Memory Management

‍With the memory handling improvements in SuperLab 6, the “Memory Management” options that were present in SuperLab 5 are no longer needed and have been removed. One less setting to worry about.

‍Rewritten Video Engine for Mac

‍Yes, we rewrote the video presentation part of SuperLab for Mac for the third time; see this earlier blog post. We love the Mac and think that it provides better timing and a better experience overall. But Apple is less committed to backwards compatibility than Microsoft is.

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