Le_Forgeron <jgr### [at] freefr> wrote:

> You know what is bad with such idea ?
> 1. Look at the map type in image_map: using number instead of explicit
> good name is painful, even when Constants.inc provides some name afterward.

Yes.  I would agree that a good (but SHORT) name would be best.
But I have also come to value the ability to refer to things numerically, so
that I can loop through a collection of things easily - we people love
descriptive, meaningful names - computers love numbers.

Wih respect to image_map specifically, any guesses as to what the missing map
types were supposed to be?  :D

> Initially I thought you wanted access to sysconf, but it
> seems to only be a model.

I think he was interested in having a "povray system function" that would be
able to return a number of different system / environment / configuration values
- LIKE sysconf.
So perhaps some of the internal epsilon values, memory available, threads used,
etc.   Someone might want to annotate their render or generate a text file that
gets post-render bundled with their render for documentation purposes.
Development, debugging, documenting - and they may want/need to do that with a
programmable function - like if they have 3000 frames - and avoid having to drag
another software/OS tool (and learning curve) into the mix.

> To misname things is to add to the unhappiness of the world.

Yeah, brother.  No truer words were ever spoken.  Say what you mean, and mean
what you say. (Or at least try as much as possible/practical)

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