[GRASS-dev] Cairo monitor driver

[Glynn Clements]

Brad Douglas wrote:

> > The main thing to bear in mind is that the graphics system is going to
> > be completely re-written for 7.x.
> 
> Could your provide details?  I've seen bits here and there, but it would
> be nice to have a summary of planned changes in one place.

Main points include:

1. Eliminating seperate driver processes. Having to extend the
protocol for each new operation has been a major drag on development. 

2. Use of floating-point for all coordinates.

3. Common architecture for both video and hardcopy output. ps.map
should be redundant.

In retrospect, #1 means that we don't really need support for the
Windows/MacOSX GUI, just the ability to generate image files.

With X, we could take the shortcut of having d.* commands draw
directly into an existing window, but I don't know whether that's
possible on other platforms.

OTOH, it might be useful to be able to use the same functions for
self-contained GUI programs (e.g. vector digitising) as for d.*
commands.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>