
On 7/17/07, David Bergman <David.Bergman@bergmangupta.com> wrote:
That would be interesting, but, honestly, what - if any - pieces would be relevant to Boost?
In general, there are a few areas that might be concrete and reapplicable enough to warrant Boost inclusion (or at least discussion):
1. Graphical user interface library. Such as win32gui for all (well, at least Linux, OS X and Win32..) platforms. There are a lot of potential input/inspiration in the game developer communities here. The GUI of a game is general enough (buttons, overlays, text, scrollbar...) that it might be isolated.
2. Geometry. We already have uBLAS, but there are definitely other matrix operations that would be needed for a proper 3D (sub) engine, and other non-matrix geometric operations.
3. 3D Rendering. Would it be possible to build an Ogre-like (in functionality and scope) layer using modern C++? I would probably start with wrapping one of these "Ogre" libraries.
4. AI. Well, the AI in games do not really have time to use advanced AI, but there are a host of interesting AI models one can Boostify, such as support vector learning (or other kernel methods), GA or at least a basic perceptron library :-)
I have a hard time visualizing a Boost.GameEngine library, but it could be a separate effort, using Boost and its principles, and *perhaps* being able to borrow the name "Boost" somehow, but that is obviously up to Management.
I think that's a very good, obvious break up of what is involved. Each of those pieces is very applicable to areas other than games. For instance, I use path planning, but not for games. I also use 3D rendering, but not for games. Same with geometry and matrix operations...I'm pretty sure anyone in Robotics or Aerospace & Defense would be able to make use of the above components. --Michael Fawcett