RE: [AD] New graphics API, take 2

[Shawn Hargreaves <shargreaves@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob writes:
> I've updated the proposed graphics API
> http://www.allegro.cc/ubb-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=6&t=000045

Why is AL_DISPLAY different to AL_BITMAP? Surely a display 
is just a special type of bitmap, with suitable vtables
for whatever device it references?

That way you just need to do:

	global AL_BITMAP *screen = al_create_display(..., single page mode);

to get exact backward-compatible semantics with the current API.

I find the name al_update_display() confusing. "update" is generally
a bad word because it can mean so many different things, but suggests 
nothing about what is being updated.

OpenGL calls this operation "flip", which is also bad because it 
implies a particular implementation that may not always be the case.

I think the D3D name is best: "present" means to do whatever is 
required to present the results of your drawing so they will be 
visible to the user. The implementation could range anywhere from
a page flip to a double buffer copy to an antialiasing downsample
to nothing at all, but the word "present" still suggests what
is being done with your display.


-- 
Shawn