John Wright wrote:
> Java 3D does suffer from an incredible lack of documentation (I'd say
> the same thing about Java in general).
For general Java, I would say that it is less widespread. For example,
most people will understand basic swing, awt or sockets. Ask them how
URL content handlers work and you get a huge blank stare. Most of the
other APIs are definitely more documented. J3D is the worst of the bunch
IMHO. For example, have a look at what comes with JMF. Gorgeous
documentation that describes how to build a complete custom application.
We took the beta spec docs for 2.0 and had a custom hardware MPEG system
written within a couple of days. Most other APIs have similar levels of
documentation. Try doing the same with J3D.
> Justin, that's interesting to hear that Sun's engineers were so
> forthright with you.
Well, it's surprising what a good German beer does for you :) Actually a
lot of it was off the cuff comments. For example I was demoing the X3D
open source code and showing the recent improvements. I complained about
how difficult to understand the original code was and pulled up a demo
of our updated code and the original. To this, Micheal replied - "all
our code is like that". Overall you could see the entire pattern laid
out.
> Overall I find Java 3D performs very well and is easy to work with.
> It's not hard to "push the envelope" though.
Yes, that is a pity. Too simple. However, some of the insights I gained
from Doug about the 1.4 intentions seem to be exactly what the advanced
developers are wanting (ie "how can I plug in my custom geometry type")
sort of questions. It will be interesting to see what happens then. The
least we can do is sit in on the JCP process and continually ask for
clarifications. If we have to, a competing implementation to Sun's may
need to be started too.
--
Justin Couch Author, Java Hacker
http://www.vlc.com.au/~justin/ Java 3D FAQ Maintainer
http://www.j3d.org/ J3D.org The Java 3D Community Site
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"Humanism is dead. Animals think, feel; so do machines now.
Neither man nor woman is the measure of all things. Every organism
processes data according to its domain, its environment; you, with
all your brains, would be useless in a mouse's universe..."
- Greg Bear, Slant
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