After an extremely successful visit to WWWF '94, where the draft-specification-
in-progress was presented to an excited WWW community, we need to sit back
and begin constructing the tools ecology that I've been so enthusiastic about.
First things first: browsers and parsers. I am about to start working with
the OI-based VRML parser from Gavin Bell and Paul Strauss, when we're
relatively certain that it works on multiple platforms (my job will be to
get it to work with MSVC++; if it does that it'll do anything), we will
release it (within about 2 weeks). This will also imply that the VRML
browser will be out by then. I had promised that it would be out by now,
but there have been delays in all of our schedules, especially while
preparing for WWWF '94.
I have been *very* silent while the various language wars are going on -
it's because I have only a passing interest in language features; I just
want a parser that I can use to implement VRML browsers and tools, how I get
there is, to me, a matter of very little consequence.
On the other hand, I do care a great deal about networking, and have some
very specific ideas on the appropriate caching algorithms which should be
used with VRML browsers; I will be posting my thoughts on this (and therefore
the architecture of VRML browsers, which has taken a back seat of late)
very soon, so that we can continue to refine the characteristics of the
language to suite the particularities of the Internet.
Finally, on a personal note, I'd like to make an announcement which became
formal on Wednesday; as of this time I am a brand-new employee of Enterprise
Integration Technologies, or EIT, as they're more commonly known, *the*
organization which is spearheading the technical initiative for a secure
(and therefore viable commercially) Internet. They are *fully* behind the
VRML initiative and my work within the community to see that standards and
tools are available; nothing will change, except that I have acquired many
more resources to help me toward my goals for VRML.
Thanks - I'll be talking with you again soon.
Mark Pesce
VRML List Moderator
Enterprise Integration Technologies
-- || * That's AL * WorldWideWeb http://www.hyperreal.com/~mpesce/