[SDL] SDL 1.3 roadmap...

[Sam Lantinga]

> A while back it was proposed to have this (IMO, convoluted) system that had to
> bind SDL_Surfaces to SDL_Textures, and whenever a change to the texture happened
> you had to mess with the texture or something like that. I remember majority
> opinion went against this. My main complaint was it would take the Simple out
> Simple DirectMedia Layer.

Yep, this was dropped.  There's now the idea of a software surface, called
SDL_Surface, and a hardware texture, called SDL_Texture.  You can't mix the
two, although there are functions to convert a software surface into a video
texture.

> Personally I think keeping them separate would be great. When I want to make a
> quick and easy graphics app, I can just plain ol' Surfaces. When I need more
> speed and features, I can use the Textures.

Yep, that's the idea.

> Most importantly, will old SDL code still work on SDL 1.3 so I don't have
> completely redo the almost 40 programs I have on my site?

In general, yes.  The biggest user-visible API change at this point is the
keyboard handling, which is splitting out text input from key up/down events.

> Also, since we have an over all road map do we have estimated release date?
> Maybe some time in 2008?

My family has another baby on the way, so there are no promises.  However,
SDL 1.3 is pretty close to being ready for general testing, I've just been
procrastinating and working on World of Warcraft. :)

See ya!
	-Sam Lantinga, Lead Software Engineer, Blizzard Entertainment