[vtk-developers] IMPORTANT: Attribute data changes (vtkScalars, vtkVectors etc)

[J.A. Lee]

Check in your changes and let the chips fall.  People will stop 
complaining when they realize that the changes improve the code and that 
their product will benefit as a result.  Just my $0.02.
-Jeff

Berk Geveci wrote:

> VTK 4.0 is coming. If I don't do this by November 1st, there will not 
> be enough time to test the changes. Putting warning messages is not 
> enough because things can be missed if the old code is still 
> functioning. I know this because, although I was trying to keep things 
> functioning,  when I removed the classes from my local build, a lot of 
> things broke.
> Also, people keep adding code which use vtkScalars etc. I have been 
> maintaining a separate VTK for a long time (I started making these 
> changes almost 8 months ago) and I want to be able to merge all my 
> changes at least a month before 4.0 is close to be released.
>
> -Berk
>
> Prabhu Ramachandran wrote:
>
>> hi,
>>
>>
>>>>>>> "BG" == Berk Geveci <berk.geveci at kitware.com> writes:
>>>>>>>
>>
>>     BG> As of VTK 4.0, vtkAttributeData and it's subclasses
>>     BG> (vtkScalars, vtkVectors, vtkNormals, vtkTensors, vtkTCoords)
>>     BG> will be deprecated. vtkDataArray and it's subclasses will
>>     BG> replace these classes. For more information, download
>>     BG> http://public.kitware.com/files/AttributeChanges.zip and look
>>     BG> at the pdf documents. The perl script included in that package
>>     BG> can be used to find out what kind of changes will have to be
>>     BG> made to port programs from VTK 3.2 or older to VTK 4.0.
>>
>> If possible please dont do this.  It would be hard to expect users and
>> developers to deal with this.  If I develop code with 4.x I can no
>> longer expect 3.x users to be able to use VTK.  VTK 4.0 is not
>> released yet (atleast I see no announcement to that effect).  Doing
>> this will force developers to have two CVS trees and cause backward
>> compatibility hell.  Why not generate warning messages when someone
>> does use it.  Once 4.x becomes available (in terms of useable binaries
>> and source) you can remove it.
>>
>> This will also trouble folks who create applications that are used by
>> others.  It is no easy task to expect everyone to just change their
>> release esp. when there arent readily available binaries/source.
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>> prabhu
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>>
>>
>
>
>
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-- 
J.A. Lee
Software Engineer
Computational Dynamics North America
3 Schoolhouse Lane
Etna NH, 03750
ph: 603-643-9993 x109, fax: 603-643-9994