> So,
> how usefull would it be to have an embedded database in POV-Ray? What kind 
> of things could one do then? Could it be helpfull for particle systems? 
> Could it be helpfull for keeping persistent data between rendering frames 
> of an animation?

As Mark already mentioned, POV has its own file I/O. IMHO we don't need 
a database support with POV-Ray, but better file I/O. Right now, it's 
limited to comma-seperated values, and IIRC some of them are also 
automagically parsed, etc. I'd like to have a file I/O which at least 
lets me read in a text file line by line (returning the whole line as a 
string).

If you add a exec-command (to execute external programs), it would 
enable us to write the database support as a inc-file, a method which I 
would prefer (not dependant on database-type, etc.). Of course 
introducing an exec-command creates a big new potential for malicious 
pov scripts. So there should be perhaps some restrictive options on that 
command, like we have the I/O-restrictions right now.

Better file-I/O could be the key to a lot more interesting plugins for 
POV in include-files (as opposed to patches). Things like 
file-format-converters, analytical stuff, etc. And as far as it's 
strings only, it would also be pretty portable, aside from the line 
endings, of course.


Just my 0.02$
Florian
-- 
camera{look_at-y*10location<8,-3,-8>*10}#local a=0;#while(a<999)sphere{
#local _=.01*a-4.99;#local p=a*.01-5;#local c=.01*a-4.995;<sin(p*pi)*5p
*10pow(p,5)*.01>sin(c*c*c*.1)+1pigment{rgb 3}}#local a=a+1;#end
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