Hugh,
>> Radians may have nice mathematical properties, but these are
>> only of interest to ... mathematicians. New programmers,
>> experienced programmers, 3D artists, architects, geographers,
>> etc all think in degrees.
any 3D programming is about math! if you try to keep the math out of your
program, you will end up playing with a building kit. you will always have
to depend on the functionality shipped with your 3D API, and never will you
be able to extend the predefined objects and behaviours by your own.
new programmers and geographers might think in degrees, but experienced
programmers don't, and the newbies would do well trying to understand how a
circle works and how radians relate to it.
why keep the math away from your students? only if they understand how the
scene is rendered (in mathematical terms), how the various elements of a 3D
application work (like projection, lighting, collision, picking, shadows
etc), they can get the most out of it.
understanding what's going on behind the scenes is crucial for any
programming, IMHO. certainly you can get by just calling the methods, but
that way you remain slave to the API.
if you don't even want your students to get involved with basic math like
radians, you should teach them how to use Bryce, not how to work with
Java3D.
-- julian
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