[Openvrml-develop] Looking down the road

[Braden M. <br...@en...>]

Here is a bit of a roadmap for the next few of OpenVRML releases.

For 0.12:
* Change to using std::string instead of char * most places.
* Implement set() and get() methods for setting eventIns and getting
  eventOuts for all nodes.
* Refcount VrmlNamespaces with a smart pointer.
* Implement dynamic loading mechanism for Script node language binding
  components and finalize the API for these components.
* Preliminary Java support for the Script node.

For 0.13:
* New node component architecture.
* Functionally complete Script node Java support.
* VrmlMatrix support for JavaScript.

For 0.14:
* Asynchronous I/O.

Obviously, the further we look into the future, the hazier things are.
And of course, this is all subject to change. But per this roadmap, the
API should be mostly complete with the 0.14 release. The one component
that may remain in flux is the Viewer. This will receive attention as
the node implementations are tweaked for conformance.

The biggest change in all this is the new node component architecture.
It will allow the library to be extended with new nodes *without*
recompiling the library. New nodes can be added as C++ shared objects
*or* as VRML PROTOs. I'll be posting more information about this as the
work for 0.12 nears completion.

-- 
Braden McDaniel                           e-mail: <br...@en...>
<http://endoframe.com>                    Jabber: <br...@ja...>