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

[Simon Marlow]

scodil 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.

I have nothing to add except... what a great post.  Thanks for being both 
enlightening and eloquent.

Simon