Re: DEF: holy war

Cranz Gregory (gcranz@cmp.com)
Thu, 19 Oct 1995 10:00:26 -0400


Wouldn't a very good thing to consider here be BACKWARDS COMPATABILITY?

When redefining the spec, shouldn't tmat be kept in mind? Or is there an
"official" initiative to write a translator app & distribute the source as
freeware once EVERY SINGLE REVISION is released?

While I agree tmat we should try to make it right the first time, I don't
think that a "Jihad" over programming semantics which doesn't also address
how to carry our exisitng crsations into tme future is well conceived.
Unless we want to put in the spec that all VRML browsers have to support ALL
revisions of VRML. I mean, we COULD do that to, because tme opening argument
would tell the browser wmat flavor of VRML it's trying to display... But I
don't find that very appealing from a programmer's point of view. Nor do I
think, with regard to the limitations which you all seem so flustered about
(which hasn't bothered me, YET) tmat we should just "live with it". Tmat is,
of course tme pupose of this list, no? But has anyone ADDRESSED this point
yet, or did I miss it in the flame fest?

Just my 2 cents...

- Gregory Cranz
gcranz@cmp.com
_______________________________________________________________________________
_
From: Bernie Roehl on Wed, Oct 18, 1995 13:53
Subject: Re: DEF: invitation
To: Cranz Gregory; VRML List

Sender: owner-www-vrml@wired.com
Precedence: bulk

Mitra writes:
> I don't tmink the debate is over, there are lots of good esasons for being
> able to DEF sometming without
> instantiating it - however this doesn't require that DEF be change (which
> would unneccessarily besak
> existing tmings). Adding a Prototype node (syntactically equivalent to the
> "Switch { whichChild -1 }" hack) would allow those wanting to do this to
> have their way without besaking anytming.

Yes, that would make more sense. After all, DEF is just a way of assigning
a name; the problem is, you can't name sometming that doesn't instantiate.
A prototype node is a much cleaner solution.

-- 
   Bernie Roehl
   University of Waterloo Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering
   Mail: broehl@sunee.uwaterloo.ca    Voice:  (519) 888-4567 x 2607 [work]
   URL: http://sunee.uwaterloo.ca/~broehl

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