James wrote:

> What I was wondering was, what TYPE of language is it? Like there is a
> language named, "C++".  Is it similar to it or now even close?
>
> James

Pov-Ray is currently written in C. The next major re-write of
the program will be done in C++.

--
Ken Tyler

tyl### [at] pacbellnet

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On Fri, 15 Jan 1999 13:06:10 -0600, James <bea### [at] compuvisionnet> wrote:
>What I was wondering was, what TYPE of language is it? Like there is a
>language named, "C++".  Is it similar to it or now even close?

POV script is a lot like BASIC in terms of its looping, conditional,
and assignment operations, except for the lack of GOTO and FOR.

Declaring objects and textures, though, isn't really like any other 
language I can think of: each object type has a number of required 
parameters with a required order, followed by a number of named 
optional parameters, such as the water level on a height field, 
followed by a number of globally recognized modifiers that work on 
all objects, such as texture and transformations.  This part of the 
process is declarative rather than procedural and so does not map 
well to any procedural language like C or C++.  Perhaps if you would
tell us why this information is important, we could provide a better
answer.

Your best bet is to just get a copy of the documentation and read it,
or grab a few sample scene files and try to understand them.

Post a reply to this message

Are you talking about the scenes being written in C?


Ken wrote in message <369F951F.A08BA90C@pacbell.net>...
>James wrote:
>
>> What I was wondering was, what TYPE of language is it? Like there is a
>> language named, "C++".  Is it similar to it or now even close?
>>
>> James
>
>Pov-Ray is currently written in C. The next major re-write of
>the program will be done in C++.
>
>--
>Ken Tyler
>
>tyl### [at] pacbellnet
>
>

Post a reply to this message

The reason I want to know the language you right the scenes is so I could go
out and buy a book on that language.


Ron Parker wrote in message <369f9ae4.0@news.povray.org>...
>On Fri, 15 Jan 1999 13:06:10 -0600, James <bea### [at] compuvisionnet> wrote:
>>What I was wondering was, what TYPE of language is it? Like there is a
>>language named, "C++".  Is it similar to it or now even close?
>
>POV script is a lot like BASIC in terms of its looping, conditional,
>and assignment operations, except for the lack of GOTO and FOR.
>
>Declaring objects and textures, though, isn't really like any other
>language I can think of: each object type has a number of required
>parameters with a required order, followed by a number of named
>optional parameters, such as the water level on a height field,
>followed by a number of globally recognized modifiers that work on
>all objects, such as texture and transformations.  This part of the
>process is declarative rather than procedural and so does not map
>well to any procedural language like C or C++.  Perhaps if you would
>tell us why this information is important, we could provide a better
>answer.
>
>Your best bet is to just get a copy of the documentation and read it,
>or grab a few sample scene files and try to understand them.

Post a reply to this message

There are no such books.  POV scene language is unique to POV.  It kinda
looks like C but getting a book on the C language will not help you learn to
write POV files in POV scene language.

The best thing to do is to (as others have mentioned) download the POV
executable (binaries) and the POV documentation manual.  Read through the
manual and do the exercises in the manual.  That is the best way to learn
the POV scene language.

--
Jim

Check out my web site http://www.kressworks.com/
It'll blow your mind (politically), stimulate your senses (artistically)
and provide scientific insights beyond compare!

Be sure to read the Warp maintained POV VFAQ:
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~warp/povVFAQ.html




James wrote in message <369f9e92.0@news.povray.org>...
>The reason I want to know the language you right the scenes is so I could
go
>out and buy a book on that language.
>
>
>Ron Parker wrote in message <369f9ae4.0@news.povray.org>...
>>On Fri, 15 Jan 1999 13:06:10 -0600, James <bea### [at] compuvisionnet> wrote:
>>>What I was wondering was, what TYPE of language is it? Like there is a
>>>language named, "C++".  Is it similar to it or now even close?
>>
>>POV script is a lot like BASIC in terms of its looping, conditional,
>>and assignment operations, except for the lack of GOTO and FOR.
>>
>>Declaring objects and textures, though, isn't really like any other
>>language I can think of: each object type has a number of required
>>parameters with a required order, followed by a number of named
>>optional parameters, such as the water level on a height field,
>>followed by a number of globally recognized modifiers that work on
>>all objects, such as texture and transformations.  This part of the
>>process is declarative rather than procedural and so does not map
>>well to any procedural language like C or C++.  Perhaps if you would
>>tell us why this information is important, we could provide a better
>>answer.
>>
>>Your best bet is to just get a copy of the documentation and read it,
>>or grab a few sample scene files and try to understand them.
>
>

Post a reply to this message

On Fri, 15 Jan 1999 15:18:44 -0500, Jim Kress <jim### [at] dccmailcom> wrote:
>There are no such books.  POV scene language is unique to POV.  It kinda
>looks like C but getting a book on the C language will not help you learn to
>write POV files in POV scene language.

Knowing C will not help you with POV.  It only looks like C because
of all the curly braces.  The procedural parts of it are a lot more 
like BASIC than like C.  The declarative parts are unlike any other
mainstream language.

There once was such a book, Ray Tracing Creations by Drew Wells and 
Chris Young, published by Waite Group Press.  It is now out of print
(and, IIRC, the publisher is out of business) and in any case only
applies to POV 2.2 and earlier.  Anything you could do in 2.2 you
can still do in 3.1, however, so if you can find a copy at your local
library or used book store, and you absolutely need something you can
read on the plane, it might be worth it.  Just keep in mind that 
there is now far more that can be done with POV than could be done
when that book was written.  For example, it doesn't cover the 
procedural parts of POV at all, because they were added in version
3.0.

Post a reply to this message

Thank you for telling me about that book.  If anyone knows of an up-to-date
book for POV-Ray please tell me about it.


Ron Parker wrote in message <369fa5b4.0@news.povray.org>...
>On Fri, 15 Jan 1999 15:18:44 -0500, Jim Kress <jim### [at] dccmailcom> wrote:
>>There are no such books.  POV scene language is unique to POV.  It kinda
>>looks like C but getting a book on the C language will not help you learn
to
>>write POV files in POV scene language.
>
>Knowing C will not help you with POV.  It only looks like C because
>of all the curly braces.  The procedural parts of it are a lot more
>like BASIC than like C.  The declarative parts are unlike any other
>mainstream language.
>
>There once was such a book, Ray Tracing Creations by Drew Wells and
>Chris Young, published by Waite Group Press.  It is now out of print
>(and, IIRC, the publisher is out of business) and in any case only
>applies to POV 2.2 and earlier.  Anything you could do in 2.2 you
>can still do in 3.1, however, so if you can find a copy at your local
>library or used book store, and you absolutely need something you can
>read on the plane, it might be worth it.  Just keep in mind that
>there is now far more that can be done with POV than could be done
>when that book was written.  For example, it doesn't cover the
>procedural parts of POV at all, because they were added in version
>3.0.

Post a reply to this message

James wrote:

> Thank you for telling me about that book.  If anyone knows of an up-to-date
> book for POV-Ray please tell me about it.
>
> Ron Parker wrote in message <369fa5b4.0@news.povray.org>...
> >On Fri, 15 Jan 1999 15:18:44 -0500, Jim Kress <jim### [at] dccmailcom> wrote:
> >>There are no such books.  POV scene language is unique to POV.  It kinda
> >>looks like C but getting a book on the C language will not help you learn
> to
> >>write POV files in POV scene language.
> >
> >Knowing C will not help you with POV.  It only looks like C because
> >of all the curly braces.  The procedural parts of it are a lot more
> >like BASIC than like C.  The declarative parts are unlike any other
> >mainstream language.
> >
> >There once was such a book, Ray Tracing Creations by Drew Wells and
> >Chris Young, published by Waite Group Press.  It is now out of print
> >(and, IIRC, the publisher is out of business) and in any case only
> >applies to POV 2.2 and earlier.  Anything you could do in 2.2 you
> >can still do in 3.1, however, so if you can find a copy at your local
> >library or used book store, and you absolutely need something you can
> >read on the plane, it might be worth it.  Just keep in mind that
> >there is now far more that can be done with POV than could be done
> >when that book was written.  For example, it doesn't cover the
> >procedural parts of POV at all, because they were added in version
> >3.0.

Look to the glossary of the povray documentation for a list of
books that might be useful to mastering this program.

Let me also say that what others have said about going through
the documentation, playing with the example scene files, changing
things and to see what happens, will teach you more than any books
can. These news groups are also a wealth of information and you
will find no finer, friendlier, and helpfull group of people anywhere
in the world bar none.

--
Ken Tyler

tyl### [at] pacbellnet

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James wrote:

> What I was wondering was, what TYPE of language is it? Like there is a
> language named, "C++".  Is it similar to it or now even close?

There might be two answers to your question.
If you are asking what language was POVray created with, then the answer is C
or C++ (as far as I know but I might be wrong).
If you are asking what is the language you use to describe a scene to POVray,
then the answer is POVscript as explained by Bob.

Bruno

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Ron Parker wrote:
>>Knowing C will not help you with POV.  It only looks like C because
of all the curly braces.<<

I beg to differ. Knowing any programming language, not just C will almost
certainly help. Knowing how to write a loop or a function (/macro) is common to
nearly every language, once the techniques have been developed it is suprisingly
easy to use another. I was brought up on a diet of Pascal, and the transfer to
POV-script and C++ was very easy.

    Graham.

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