 Comments Requested on SML-Based Graphics DSL
started 12/14/2003; 11:18:39 AM - last post 12/18/2003; 4:34:37 PM
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Brent Fulgham - Comments Requested on SML-Based Graphics DSL 
12/14/2003; 11:18:39 AM (reads: 8172, responses: 5)
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| Comments Requested on SML-Based Graphics DSL |
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Johnny Andersen has been conducting a one-man mission to convince graphics programmers to use functional programming in their work. To my knowledge, he is the only person currently using SML (or really any functional language) in professional graphics development.
In partial completion of his Bachelor's degree, he has devised an ML-based Domain Specific Language for creating 3D graphics programs.
The language includes a few new ideas:
* Various SML extensions to support more polymorphic behavior
* The "Fieldcase" construct, for branching a program based on the presence of an optional field in a structure
* Optional type arguments
Johnny is seeking input on his language definition, and would appreciate any comments the learned folks at LtU might have.
Posted to DSL by Brent Fulgham on 12/14/03; 11:47:39 AM
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andrew cooke - Re: Comments Requested on SML-Based Graphics DSL
12/14/2003; 5:17:10 PM (reads: 422, responses: 0)
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professional
fwiw there will soon (hopefully after the xmas holidays) be an online store/gallery selling graphics made with pancito. i suppose no-one will ever buy anything, but i can dream...
(at the moment i'm writing a little (haskell) package to generate the (static) web pages from database info, so that i don't have to author all the pages).
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Noel Welsh - Re: Comments Requested on SML-Based Graphics DSL
12/14/2003; 5:50:14 PM (reads: 412, responses: 0)
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FWIW I have this vague memory that Thant Tessman, sometime contributor to comp.lang.scheme, is works in computer graphics. Google returns a few hits at SGI but nothing definitive.
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Ehud Lamm - Re: Comments Requested on SML-Based Graphics DSL
12/15/2003; 6:56:26 AM (reads: 322, responses: 0)
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Brent Fulgham - Re: Comments Requested on SML-Based Graphics DSL
12/15/2003; 11:28:15 AM (reads: 277, responses: 0)
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I'm curious what LtU cognoscenti think of his proposed modifications to SML:
- Optional record fields (using the new abscent/present keywords)
- Fieldcase
- Composable restrictions on types
I especially enjoyed the section on the code maintenance benefits of this approach (see Section 4.14), which outlines a hypothetical "arms race" between a plugin writer and a user. I have not seen this type of functional behavior available in existing strongly-typed languages, and though this was a compelling argument.
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Pseudonym - Re: Comments Requested on SML-Based Graphics DSL
12/18/2003; 4:34:37 PM (reads: 136, responses: 0)
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I used to be a person who used functional programming (Haskell, specifically) in professional graphics development. It was a compiler for a certain industry-standard DSL, not the graphical engine itself.
Unfortunately, I left before we managed to ship the product, and nobody who was left spoke Haskell. Unfortunate. If I was still there, some of the world's highest-profile visual effects houses would today be using Haskell.
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