RE: [Algorithms] FW: [CsMain] Scene Graphs (long tangent rant on "standards")

[Stephen J B. <sj...@li...>]

On Thu, 7 Sep 2000, Graham S. Rhodes wrote:

> > I agree that ad'hoc standards are a good thing - but there comes a point
> > where they have to be formalized and taken over by a committee to stablise
> > them.
> 
> I agree with you. OpenGL has certainly benefited from the approach you
> suggest. What bothers me is things that are built by committee from the
> ground up.
 
Yes. Absolutely.  Who wants to program in Ada when there is C++ -
the US govt had to pass laws to force people to use it!  Give
me the work of two or three smart people any day.

I had hoped that OpenGL++ would have worked out that way - since
it would clearly have been a linear descendent of a number of other
SGI scene-graph API's (notably the Cosmo scene graph and Performer)
in just the same way that OpenGL was a descendent of IrisGL.

Those scene graph API's have worked out pretty well but are in need
of standardization/cleanup/portability effort just as IrisGL was.
OpenGL++ might even have gotten there if the Fahrenheit nonense hadn't
"hijacked" the standard *and* all the experienced people at SGI who
were working on it.

> > No standard lasts forever - which is why we are not all writing Algol'60
> > or FORTRAN IV.
> 
> I agree with you statement absolutely. But lasting forever is the *purpose*
> of a lot of true standards....

The formulators of a standard may like to imagine that to be the case - but
it's naive.  Nobody can predict what computers will be like in 10 years
time - and to attempt to define a standard that'll last even 15 years is
pushing it.

> Enough of this nonsense! On to more important discussions!
 
Indeed.  We are way off-topic.

----
Science being insufficient - neither ancient protein species deficient.

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