keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) (03/05/85)
[...........]
I'm trying to find out what the least painless method of obtaining
information on GKS language bindings for 'C', Pascal, and (gasp) Basic
or at least what state they are now in, if not the specific bindings
themselves. GKS appears to have gone through so many different hands,
it seems as if no one standards commitee is carrying the ball. And
I have no idea what it is like to deal with any of the commitees, or
where I can get in touch with who I'd need to contact to get copies
of the standards.
In addition, I'm also trying to get whatever information I can on VDI, which
I heard rumored is being re-named VDM. I do get the definite impression that
it is not cast in concrete yet, which may mean all I could obtain is
preliminary specs. Anything would help at this stage though.
Thank you very much, I wish someone would get this all sorted out, as there's
nothing worse than 'vague', 'incomplete', or 'not-yet-approved' standards.
Keith Doyle
{ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!keithddhs@iddic.UUCP (David H. Straayer) (03/08/85)
> I'm trying to find out what the least painless method of > obtaining information on GKS language bindings for 'C', > Pascal, and (gasp) Basic or at least what state they are now > in, if not the specific bindings themselves. GKS appears to > have gone through so many different hands, it seems as if no > one standards committee is carrying the ball. And I have no > idea what it is like to deal with any of the commitees, or > where I can get in touch with who I'd need to contact to get > copies of the standards. > In addition, I'm also trying to get whatever information I > can on VDI, which I heard rumored is being re-named VDM. I > do get the definite impression that it is not cast in > concrete yet, which may mean all I could obtain is > preliminary specs. Anything would help at this stage > though. Fair questions. Your implied frustration is justified. I've been working on these proposals for seven years and am also frustrated. I cling to the hope that it will be worth the work, wait, and frustration. GKS has indeed gone through many hands. It is now a fully-approved standard in England, Germany, and perhaps other countries, but not the U.S. yet. X3, the computer standards committee, has now received GKS, including its Fortran binding, for review and approval. The Technical Committee, X3H3 is now all done with it. ISO GKS has gone to Swiss central secretariat for publication, and should be printed and published shortly. The C binding, ADA binding, Pascal binding, and PL/I bindings are all projects of ANSC X3H34. This committee is the focus within the U.S. for binding GKS (also PHIGS and VDI) to languages. The committee is chaired by: Ms. Madeleine Sparks SDC 4810 Bradford Blvd NW Huntsville, AL 35805 (205) 837-7610 Ext 247 I give her address and phone number because the most appropriate way to gain access to standards under development is to work on their development. If your organization needs access to these draft documents, this is the only way you can get them and really understand how "solid" they are, in order to make informed judgements about when you should begin designing products that use them. A note of warning: if you decide to participate, please come with realistic expectations about your potential influence, and a committment to getting the standard done in a timely fashion! It is far easier to block progress in a consensus process than it is to expedite it. When a standard is (finally) published as an ANSI standard, it may be purchased from the ANSI sales department, 1430 Broadway, N.Y., NY 10018. GKS should be available from ANSI sometime this summer. Until then, copies of drafts in progress may be obtained from CBEMA, X3 Secretariat, 331 First St. NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 2001. Caution: before you call or write X3 secretariat, fine out exactly which document you want by its "Document Register" document. For example, GKS is X3H3/83-25R3, and the C binding is X3H34/83-12R1. Without these numbers, the secretariat staff won't know how to find the document you want. You can get the document numbers by calling the chair of the committee responsible for the document. Beware: drafts can be subject to a LOT of change. The only sure way to avoid that problem is to wait until the standard is published. The next best approach is to actually work on the development The BASIC binding is not a X3H34 project. It is being done by X3J2 as a chapter in the forthcoming ANSI BASIC standard. This, as you may anticipate, results in some political friction and divergence from the letter of the GKS standard. With respect to VDI, this is still in the draft stage. It may be renamed CGI, because of pressure from DIN, the German national standards body, within ISO. (Naming a standard VDI within Germany would be like naming a standard IBM within the US). The committee working on VDI and the companion VDM (VDI is Virtual Device Interface, VDM is Virtual Device Metafile) standard is ANSC X3H33, chair is: Ms. Margaret Journey Precision Visuals, Inc. 6260 Lookout Road Boulder, CO 80301 (303) 530-9000 A final note: if you want to follow the graphics standards development progress, probably the best ongoing source of info for non-participants is "Computer Graphics Today", the publication of National Computer Graphics Association. It has a regular column by Dr. Peter Bono, chair of X3H3. Subscriptions cost $12/year, CG Today, PO Box 6546, Holmes, PA 19043. David H. Straayer Tektronix, Inc. POB 1000 MS 63-166 Wilsonville OR 97070 {most any major node}!tektronix!iddic!dhs
greg@vecpyr.UUCP (Greg Millar) (03/09/85)
> I'm trying to find out what the least painless method of obtaining > information on GKS language bindings for 'C', Pascal, and (gasp) Basic > or at least what state they are now in, if not the specific bindings > themselves. GKS appears to have gone through so many different hands, > it seems as if no one standards commitee is carrying the ball. And > I have no idea what it is like to deal with any of the commitees, or > where I can get in touch with who I'd need to contact to get copies > of the standards. There is a C binding for GKS out now, but it has not been fully approved yet. The last set of changes were quite minor. You can get any of the binding specs from ANSI in New York (I don't have the address on hand). Visual Engineering's GKS (Visual:GKS) uses this proposed GKS binding, which is quite firm at this point. It has provisions for long and short function names also. I don't think there is a Pascal binding done yet, but I have heard there is a BASIC binding. There is a FORTRAN binding. > In addition, I'm also trying to get whatever information I can on VDI, which > I heard rumored is being re-named VDM. I do get the definite impression that > it is not cast in concrete yet, which may mean all I could obtain is > preliminary specs. Anything would help at this stage though. VDI/VDM (Virtual Device Interface/Metafile) is now being called CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile) because there is a European Company named VDI (at least this is what I hear) that doesn't want to share the name. The VDI saga is quite a mess. The ANSI group has taken it upon itself to make VDI into a package like GKS (a higher level graphics development package, NOT a Virtual Device Interface, as it was supposed to be originally). The "standard" has been in such flux that no two VDI's are the same (a standard??). On the other hand the GKS standard is very solid. We have had customers link GKS test programs (in C) to Visual:GKS and another GKS that uses the ANSI C binding with no problem! VDI won't do that right now. It is too bad because a standard VDI would be nice to have, but don't hold your breath. Greg Millar ...{ucbvax,decwrl}!dual!vecpyr!greg Visual Engineering, Inc. 2680 N. First San Jose, CA 95134 (408) 945-9055
jon@oblio.UUCP (Jon Steinhart) (03/11/85)
> There is a C binding for GKS out now, but it has not been fully approved yet. > The last set of changes were quite minor. You can get any of the binding > specs from ANSI in New York (I don't have the address on hand). I am the author of the C binding. It is nowhere near approval at this time. The last set of changes were MAJOR, necessitating a major overhaul of the binding. Noone is working on this at this time. ANSI in New York does not have copies of ANY of the draft bindings. ANSI X3H3 plans to make draft bindings available through CBEMA sometime in the near future. The best way to get draft bindings is to join ANSI X3H3. Call Barry Shepherd at IBM in Austin, Texas. > I don't think there is a Pascal binding done yet, but I have heard there > is a BASIC binding. There is a FORTRAN binding. Mel Slater of the British Standards Institute is the Pascal binding author. ANSI X3H34 is submitting comments in hope that the BSI binding can be adopted by ANSI. The BASIC binding is being done by the BASIC language committee. They have made some changes so it is not quite GKS compatible. > VDI/VDM (Virtual Device Interface/Metafile) is now being called > CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile) because there is a European Company > named VDI (at least this is what I hear) that doesn't want to share > the name. The VDI saga is quite a mess. The ANSI group has taken it > upon itself to make VDI into a package like GKS (a higher level graphics > development package, NOT a Virtual Device Interface, as it was supposed > to be originally). The "standard" has been in such flux that no two > VDI's are the same (a standard??). VDI/VDM were changed to CGI/CGM because the phrase "virtual device" has many other meanings outside of graphics. I agree that the direction of the CGI has become rather fuzzy. My usual pitch here: if you don't like it, join X3H3 and help change it. Jon Steinhart Counterpoint Computers, Inc. ANSI X3H3