I've implemented a pretty functional paint program in exactly 1000 bytes of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It's happy in FF and Safari. IE probably won't parse it though.

"Features" include selecting colors and even an eraser. I had brush sizing going too, but it wouldn't make 1k.

A slow click-and-drag makes for the clearest lines and a fast click-and-drag might be good for a little paint splatter action circa 1995.

Hope you like.

http://particlewebsite.com/1k_paint.html
http://particlewebsite.com/images/1kpaint_robot.png

I have long held that SF has a special relationship with grammar because it must so often invent all kinds of new language and style to be effective. I believe every instance of non-literary grammar helps SF stay relegated to genre fiction and evokes a kind of pulp-ism clearly inappropriate for writers like Gibson, Stephenson, Doctorow, Banks and, yes, Leonard! These are all defensibly writers of Literature with the big L. Writing about the future or technology ultimately shouldn't land you in a specific section in the bookstore any more than writing about an autistic kid who learns to play virtuoso piano should.

I think a sentence like "because none of them were perfect" potentially hurts a piece like this. None is traditionally singular when accompanied by a prepositional phrase; none would pretty clearly mean "not one" here. There's an almost alarmingly passionate thread on Metafilter about this actually: http://ask.metafilter.com/21238/is-none-singular

You could argue that he's establishing voice, but I don't think so given the rest of the piece. Yes, I realize I need to get out more.

I accidentally broke their license and noticed that they are using Google Analytics on this site. I'm guessing that they are not the owners/creators of that bit of code.... http://www.google.com/analytics/tos.html