In article <3db436a9$1@news.povray.org>,
 "Greg M. Johnson" <gregj:-)565### [at] aolcom> wrote:

> I "mastered" programming in high school and college learning BASIC and some
> FORTRAN.
> 
> I am too stupid to figure out C.

More likely you had some kind of block where you decided you couldn't 
learn it. It isn't that hard, though of course I'd never recommend it 
for a scene description language..


> Please don't make the SDL just a bastardized C. 

That wasn't very C-like. There were only a few things that were like C 
in that code: using {} braces to enclose code blocks (which POV already 
does, just not for control statements...if that was the problem, you 
couldn't read POV either), and the "+=" operator, which seems pretty 
intuitive to me. And finally, the "varName = value" syntax for assigning 
to variables...is that so hard to understand? Were you really unable to 
figure out what that code did?


> Don't make it eclectic. 

If anything, the existing language is extremely "eclectic", borrowing 
bits and pieces from C, Pascal, and other languages. I don't think the 
word means what you think it means.


> As klunky as it is, the current SDL is intuitive.

In some ways, in others it is horribly nonintuitive. (quick: you can 
declare textures, finishes, pigments, objects, and functions. Can you 
declare transforms? Can you declare warps? How about patterns? You can 
also make a texture based off an existing one by using "texture 
{TEXTURE_IDENTIFIER MODIFIERS}", can you do the same with unions, blobs, 
or meshes? Is sky_sphere an object? Using shadowless in a light source 
turns off highlights...is that intuitive?)

-- 
Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
POV-Ray TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
http://tag.povray.org/

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