Re: VPython 5.50: the extrusion object

It's true that support for 64-bit machines is relevant, not just on
Windows but also on Mac and Linux. VPython programs run nicely as
32-bit programs on Windows, so it's not an urgent problem. Perhaps
more of an issue is that people have had difficulties trying to build
VPython from source on 64-bit Linux.

But the really big scary menacing problem is the Mac. For important
reasons, VPython uses the Carbon framework on the Mac (for creating a
window and interacting with it). Carbon will not be available on
64-bit Macs, and Cocoa for major threading reasons poses a serious
implementation challenge. Whether Apple goes completely to 64 bits, or
Python becomes available for the Mac only as a 64-bit program, VPython
as a pure Mac program is dead unless someone can figure out how to run
it in the Cocoa environment. An out presumably is to retreat to what
used to be the case, that VPython would run only within the X11 world
on the Mac, not as a native-mode application. That's a problem,
because many Mac users were very uncomfortable with that approach when
we used it in the past.

As far as teaching goes, a 64-bit version is almost completely
irrelevant, given the relatively undemanding applications that are
typically encountered in courses, at least until you get to very
advanced classes. But those of us involved in the development of
VPython have always had the desire to support other kinds of usage,
especially research, and in fact there is a significant amount of use
of VPython in the research community.

Bruce Sherwood

On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 8:36 PM, gary ruben <[email protected]> wrote:
> Another thing that's missing is support for 64 bit Windows. I'm not
> desperate for this myself as I'm currently not involved in teaching,
> but the fraction of 64 bit installations out there is only going to
> increase.
>
> Gary R.

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