[Haskell-cafe] Fw: patch applied (ghc): Remove the OpenGL familyof libraries fromextralibs

[Jefferson Heard]

Scott, I couldn't have said it better. My impression has always been
that HOpenGL looks like OpenGL would have looked like if they'd had a
flexible language to work with when they desgned it.  My only quibble
would be with the documentation.  Is there any way out there for
haddock to produce a linked and indexed PDF, so that I can better
guess where one function will be relative to another that feels like
it ought to be related?

On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 11:42 PM, scodil <sedillard at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I'll chime in with a "me too". I use Haskell and OpenGL for prototyping
> scientific visualization software, 3D models and such. Not that I think it
> couldn't be used for production software, its just that I just don't produce
> much :)
>
> The library really is fantastic. I don't think it gets enough fanfare. The
> only
> other GL API that rivals it is the C API itself. Most other languages
> provide a
> shoddy & incomplete interface to that, instead of an idiomatic
> interpretation of the OpenGL spec. I can't think of a single language, not
> even
> python, whose OpenGL bindings come close.
>
> I get the impression (from a inadequate sample of irc logs and list chatter)
> that many Haskellers see HOpenGL as 'just an OpenGL binding', like it was
> readline or curses or something. It just plugs a hole in the Haskell/OS
> interface, and its worth is merely a function of the size and importance of
> that hole. Instead I advocate, as Claus and others have done, that it's a
> shining example of how to write a Haskell interface to a well known API.
>
> If you never used C OpenGL and learned GL using Haskell, you might not
> notice
> anything special about it. But that's kind of my point, its just so damn
> good
> it blends into the background. The only people who notice this, I think, are
> experienced C OpenGL programmers, and the overlap between them and the
> Haskell
> community in general is small I bet. Their voice in that community smaller
> still.
>
> This probably has little bearing on the issue of whether to keep or drop
> HOpenGL in the near future, but I think that if 'the community' (or whoever
> has
> a say in these things) like the style of HOpenGL, and want to encourage
> bindings to be written in that style, they should place the library
> prominently
> in the pantheon of Haskell libs. Demoting it has the opposite effect.
>
> Anyway, I just wanted to take advantage of a rare opportunity to sing its
> praise.
>
> Scott
>
>
>> Yes, same here; don't worry, it's not going away.   It would be nice
>> to know, though, how many people are using it and what they're using
>> it for.  I'm using it for information visualization, and slowly
>> evolving/cribbing together something like the Processing
>> (http://www.processing.org) framework for Haskell as I do more things.
>>
>> On Sat, Jul 26, 2008 at 5:46 AM, Alberto Ruiz <aruiz at um.es> wrote:
>>> Don Stewart wrote:
>>>>
>>>> claus.reinke:
>>>>>
>>>>> But neither do I believe the rumour that OpenGL isn't much
>>>>> used, and forwarding the removal notice gives those users the
>>>>> opportunity to speak up now if they prefer no gaps in OpenGL presence,
>>>>> or
>>>>> forever to hold their peace, as they say.
>>>>
>>>> I for one have noticed this library *is* actively used. Many of the fun
>>>> new games that have appeared are using it, in particular.
>>>>
>>>> Such as:
>>>>
>>>>    http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/frag
>>>>    http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/Monadius
>>>>
>>>> http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/roguestar-gl
>>>>    http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/rsagl
>>>>    http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/Shu-thing
>>>>    http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/topkata
>>>>
>>>> The tutorial was also translated to the wiki last week,
>>>>
>>>>    http://haskell.org/haskellwiki/Opengl
>>>>
>>>> It's a good, reliable package, in active use, widely ported.
>>>
>>> I'd just like to say that HOpenGL is essential for me. It is one of the
>>> reasons why I finally decided to use Haskell for all my work...
>>>
>>> Alberto
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> I try to take things like a crow; war and chaos don't always ruin a
>> picnic, they just mean you have to be careful what you swallow.
>>
>> -- Jessica Edwards
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-- 
I try to take things like a crow; war and chaos don't always ruin a
picnic, they just mean you have to be careful what you swallow.

-- Jessica Edwards