At 5:41 PM -0700 8/2/99, Raab, Andreas wrote:
>I'm just curious: Are you really talking about having OpenGL in Squeak or
>are you talking about a high speed immediate mode interface for 3D rendering
>- which might not necessarily use OpenGL?!
>[snip...]

Andreas -- I feel the advantages with OpenGL (and to a lesser extent with
Mesa) lie in two areas, namely "standardization" and " hardware support".
as you point out, OpenGL is not necessarily the "best" choice for a 3D
system, but there are OenGL implementations for all the significant
platforms, and many of the supporting graphics cards for those platforms.
One of the important uses of a Smalltalk environment is prototyping, and
the Jun301 Smalltalk interface to OpenGL offers a way to prototype
applications using graphics where the graphical components (OpenGL ) can be
used almost "as is" when going from prototype to, say, a C implementation.
On the other hand, you make some important arguments for alternative 3D
systems for Squeak. I think both approaches have merit. Given the work
already done for Jun, it is a fast path to a 3D system, but certainly not
the only path.
--dick



=================================
R. L. Peskin,  Rutgers Univ.
;<peskin at caip.rutgers.edu>;<http://www.caip.rutgers.edu/~peskin>
RLP Consulting <rlpcon at sover.net>; <http://www.sover.net/~rlpcon>