R: [AD] Why multiple windows might suck

[Angelo M. <a.m...@li...>]

> I'm thinking Allegro shouldn't try to support multiple 
> windows natively.

Personally I don't think many users will ever use a possible multiple
windows support, but I agree on the fact it would be cool, and it would
give Allegro something other libraries don't have. And who knows, we may
even end up seeing several Allegro apps running with multiple windows in
the future :)
So yes, for me we should try supporting the thing, as long as it doesn't
interfere too much with the rest of the lib.

The input problem could be a serious issue here, but I think giving an
input "source" to the input routines would solve it. As I'm here, let me
point out a thing I've left out so far: I strongly disagree on using
AL_BITMAP to identify the window/screen devices. I liked AL_DISPLAY much
more, and I'd love an even mode generic AL_DEVICE that could be used
with way more sense on al_read_key() than passing AL_BITMAP to it (for
example).
Using AL_BITMAP to identify the screen/window context as a different
thing than normal bitmaps would just make the users more confused
IMHO...

Another thing: having to deal with multiple windows also requires us to
much better improve the windows management, and generally all the
interactions with the hosting OS window manager... Simply having a bunch
of functions to deal with it as done till now could not be enough. A WM
events handling system like in SDL comes to my mind...

--
Angelo Mottola
a.m...@ec...
http://www.ecplusplus.com