Re: OpenGL in Ada

[BrianG <briang000@gmail.com>]

Gautier write-only wrote:
> Yves Bailly:
> 
>> The OpenGL subprograms are named according to the usual C naming
>> scheme ("glBegin", "glVertex3d" and so on), so the result looks more
>> like C than like Ada, but at least it allows to read tutorials more
>> easily (as most of them are based on C). So the generated binding is
>> rather low-level (I think "thin binding" is the appropriate wording).
> 
> If you want to see a GL binding with Ada names, visit this
>   http://globe3d.sf.net/
> There is somewhere among the tools a gl_overloader that produces
> different "Vertex" instead of C's "glVertex3d", "glVertex3f", etc.
> like here:
>   http://globe3d.sf.net/g3d_html/gl__ads.htm#3346_13
> You can perhaps combine it with your binding generator.
> 

I would strongly recommend using an Ada-type naming convention.  Even 
the  OpenGL definition recognizes that the "C naming convention" is only 
due to C's limitations and recommends using a "real" naming with real 
languages (see the Red Book - ok, the "real languages" part is my wording).

Someone trying to use a tutorial ought to be able to understand the 
change from "glVertex3i(x,y,z)" to "GL.Vertex(x, y, z : Int)".

(Of course there is a problem with overloading multiple integral and 
real versions - calls with only literal arguments need some kind of 
kludge.  I've never found a good solution.)

--BrianG