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From: Pezely@udel.edu (Cowboy Dan)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: We Need A New Language: Part 1 of 3
Message-ID: <15598@milton.u.washington.edu>
Date: 31 Jan 91 05:49:19 GMT
References: <15444@milton.u.washington.edu>
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Lance Norskog writes in article <15444@milton.u.washington.edu>:
>
>       Real-time interaction with screen, input devices, and
>       force-feedback devices, (the building blocks of "virtual
>       reality") promises to revolutionize mass-market computer
>       graphics, and indeed all of computer interaction.  We need a
>       common programming language for 3D computer graphics.
I see your point, but...

Why limit yourself to only three dimensions?

Why hard-wire 3D into a language or a VR platform?
(For that matter, why hard-wire anything into VR if you don't have to?)

You can split up audible, tactile, and graphic data from the render-data so
as to blast fewer bytes to the respective output systems, but then you need
separate structures to handle each type of output which would seemingly
belong inside the language; we shouldn't favor visual data over audio.
Such a system would then have limiting factors when observed a few years
down the road.

Why waste the time and energy inventing a new language when there is
already a suitable one  IF  you take into consideration the computational
facilities beyond the current generation of hardware?


What language then?  Common Lisp!

If you object to it, then you do not know enough about the language.

If you object to its use in VR, then ---IMHO--- you are being too
short-sighted about the design of VR systems.

Many organizations and companies are using object-oriented C or C++ with
custom libraries to provide for 3D.  I heard (ie, not sure if it's true)
that AutoDesk bought the company which makes HOOPS to simplify development.

Kids, DO try this at home:
If you design the VR system right, you can make an efficient C/C++ platform
with Lisp as a top-level language to handle the variable data structures.

Think of it as a meta-OS with Lisp applications running on top.  This makes
sense mostly for heterogeneous distributed systems with mixed-bandwidth
networks, not to mention the ability to re-program the system utilities
on-the-fly (something very useful for R & D).

I'm sure I'll get flamed for this....  Oh well.
(my response might not come for a few days, though.)

-Daniel