Design of an OpenGL Interface for the J Programming Language

Traditional 3D graphics programming using OpenGL in C or C++ often requires significant development time by expert graphics programmers. The time costs associated with learning to use OpenGL calls in the C or C++ environment and compiling, linking, and testing during application development are typically extensive. Therefore, new tools that reduce the development time associated with graphics programming or make graphics programming available to a broader spectrum of programmers paves the way towards speedier and more sophisticated graphical software development. An interpreted environment accommodates faster graphics application development by eliminating the need to frequently recompile code in order to observe the effects of OpenGL calls to the current graphics state. Utilizing the functional programming language J with appropriate OpenGL bindings, an interpreted approach provides an interactive environment suitable for less time consuming OpenGL-like graphics programming. This paper details design and implementation issues involved in creating OpenGL bindings for the J programming language. In addition, an explanation of one approach to creating such bindings and suggestions for possible improvements are also included. ∗Now at Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas This paper appears in the Journal of Computing in Small Colleges, Volume 12, Number 4, Pages 184-193, March 1997. Copyright c ©1997 by the Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges. Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that