[cairo] Chaco DisplayPDF with Antigrain Internals

[M. Evans]

Carl wrote:

> Most of the interesting work in cairo so far has
> to do with geometric primitives, (spline-based
> paths; stroking; caps, joins, and dashing; etc.).
> Evas doesn't yet have much support for these kinds
> of operations, but someone has started thinking
> about adding it.
> 
> Finally, both libraries have support for multiple
> backends, but I think that cairo is distinct in
> the priority placed on supporting output intended
> for high-quality printing, (even though we haven't
> finished the PDF and PostScript work we want to
> do).

My impression is the Cairo suits static display pages, not anything 
interactive or animated.  Some have questioned the need for pixel-level 
accuracy, e.g.
http://dot.kde.org/1048476487/1048503982/1048537895/1048560862/
"For things where pixel-level accuracy matters (fonts), one can always 
use textured 2D triangle bitmaps, which is precisely what Quartz Extreme 
in OS X does."
See also http://www.osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=4748#151155
for an interesting item.


David Turner wrote:

 > API is in C++ with templates (!!); it supports hit-testing

Why the bang marks?  High-level languages are nice.  Smoke is written in 
OCaml now, and does the same stuff as before with a fraction of the 
lines of code.

Even if you like portable-assembly modes of thought engendered by C, 
there are safer dialects to use, e.g. http://manju.cs.berkeley.edu/cil/ 
  which has compiled Linux itself.

 > I don't think there are PDF/PS/SVG backends for AAG, but writing
 > classes to handle this should be possible, though a lot of work.

Oh, there is one (front-end, that is).  The Chaco component of Scipy is 
DisplayPDF, including printed output, and handles all the geometric 
primitives mentioned by Carl.  It uses AGG internally, in part thanks to 
yours truly,
http://www.scipy.net/pipermail/scipy-user/2002-November/001021.html
http://www.themorrillfamily.com/blog/chaco/archives/000015.html

Friendly BSD license, under development for several years, corporate 
funding.  Right now the Chaco CVS is in limbo, moving from one tree to 
another.
http://www.scipy.org/mailinglists/mailman?fn=scipy-chaco/2004-April/000528.html

Anyway they are giving some talks at the Scipy conference next month if 
anyone is near Pasadena, CA.
http://www.scipy.org/wikis/scipy04/ConferenceSchedule

They offer some papers too.
http://www.scipy.org/documentation/Workshops/SciPy02presentations/morrill_lightning_talk.pdf

Chaco User Guide
http://www.themorrillfamily.com/david/ct/Chaco_Users_Guide_1.html