Yeah, that would save some typing.

I see the same trend happening with povray as with the data analysis software
I'm writing for a client.   I had a nice simple scripting language for data
analysis and generating plots, but we found we needed "if" statements, then
"if-then-else" and then we needed "goto" - youch! try adding that to a parser
that wasn't designed for it - and now maybe text string variables, and ..., and
..., and ...

It seems that most script languages that try to keep simple end up growing all
the other features found in most programming languages.  So why not just adopt
an existing language, an object-oriented one, perhaps Python, and put all the
good stuff like geometric models, textures, lights, etc. into libraries of
classes?   This would allow unlimited possibilities for looping, calculating,
user-defined functions, debugging support, and more.

What would be the relative advantages of 1) just adding new keywords and
directives to povray's existing language;  2) expanding it so much that it
becomes a "real" language; and 3) giving up and using an existing outside
language, making 

-- 
Daren Scot Wilson
dar### [at] pipelinecom 
www.newcolor.com
----
"Unless we attempt the absurd, we cannot achieve the impossible" 
                                           - A. Einstein

"Unless we attempt to get out of bed, we cannot achieve the easy"
                                           - D. Wilson

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