Exploratory Programming of Distributed 3D Graphics Applications

Abstract

Repo-3D is a general-purpose, object-oriented library for developing distributed, interactive 3D graphics applications across a range of heterogeneous workstations. In this paper we discuss how Repo-3D simplifies exploratory programming of distributed 3D graphical applications, making it easy for programmers to rapidly evolve prototypes using a familiar multi-threaded, object-oriented programming paradigm. All data sharing of both graphical and non-graphical data is done via general-purpose distributed objects, presenting the illusion of a single distributed shared memory.

Repo-3D is embedded in Repo, an interpreted, lexically-scoped, distributed programming language, allowing entire applications to be rapidly prototyped. We discuss Repo-3D�s design and how it supports exploratory distributed programming, present a number of illustrative examples, and discuss the pros and cons of this model for other programming tasks.