3D graphics programmers using Python?

[Brandon Van Every]

Laura Creighton wrote:
> Brandon Van Every wrote:
>>
>> I wonder if a lot of our differences of opinion here, are between:
>> - guys who use C++ as a high level language
>> - guys who use C++ as a low level language
>>
>> I'm clearly the latter.  As are all 3D graphics programmers who care
>> about performance.
>
> This is very likely the basis of our disagreement.  My position is
> that C++ is not a general purpose or an applications programming
> language.

I'd buy that at face value.  Mostly I've used C++ for 3D engines, device
drivers, number crunching, and other sorts of performance oriented
under-the-hood tasks.  The UI for my game is still trivial, and I don't want
to do it in C++.  "General purpose" and "applications programming" is more
about UIs, communication between components, and glueing things together,
IMHO.

> This doesn't mean that it shoudn't be used -- just that it
> should be used one heck of a lot more rarely than it is now.

"Rarely" is not the right word.  For instance, SIGGRAPH is the largest ACM
conference by an order of magnitude.  I think the games industry is now
finally reaching parity with the film industry for revenues, although I'm
always unsure how people are really fudging those numbers.  Anyways, most of
that is 3D nowadays.  As eneumerated above, there are plenty of programming
domains where it's correct to use C++.  I'd agree that C++ gets used too
often for high level tasks though.

I mean, come on.  Look at all those crazy books people have written over the
years, with elegant concepts like "Singleton-Letter" class (snort).  It's
all a bunch of crap running in circles around the deficiencies of C++ as an
OO paradigm.  The main value of C++ is that it's widely deployed, and it got
many of us off of C.

> And I
> also hoped to find you a higher level language to program in, to boost
> the 'Cool things coded by Brandon Van Every before he dies' count.

Don' worry, it's just a matter of finding the time.  There are too many
low-level things I have to deal with right now.  When I'm ready for the high
level, I'll deal with the Python / C++ integration can 'o' worms.  Right now
though, every day counts and I'm far more interested in just cranking out
code with what I know, on problems I know I can solve efficiently in C++.

--
Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.