[SDL] Start of a tutorial

[nfries88]

KHMan wrote:
> michelleC wrote:
> 
> > I like the showcase idea, and I would be willing to contribute to an 
> > iphone section.
> > I am already putting together a tutorial.
> > 
> > However I know little and don't have time to explore other platforms, 
> > although I think an xbox showcase would be sweet , not sure sdl could 
> > complete with direct3d.
> > [snip]
> > 
> 
> [ related stuff ]
> 
> Slow down, cut the hype. SDL does not compete against any of those 
> other libraries. You consider your application and you just pick 
> the best tool given a set of circumstances. In a social media 
> culture, there is an unconscious tendency to overdo the hype. I 
> don't think SDL's cause will be helped by use of hype.

I second this notion. Drawing too much attention to SDL may be a bad thing.
However, I certainly think it's fine when opening the idea of using SDL to a community that probably have heard little to nothing of it before (iPhone devs) to show successful use cases on other platforms. Going beyond that, and especially comparing it to other APIs to a community that knows near-nothing about SDL, could be disastrous to SDL's reputation.

SDL provides no 3D APIs. It uses 3D APIs for accelerated rendering, but it doesn't provide them at all -- the developer using SDL must provide his own 3D engine.
Comparing it to Direct3D or OpenGL would be harmful and *wrong* for that reason. Comparing it to Allegro or SFML, however, would be fair -- but iPhone devs have probably heard about as much of those as they have of SDL, perhaps even less (since SFML is fairly young and neither have an iPhone port yet), so it's probably a bad idea.

If I were you, I would just stick to teaching how to use SDL effectively** on the iPhone, and also providing code for generic SDL use-cases. There aren't really any SDL 1.3 examples or tutorials out there, as you've mentioned, so it'd be great for you to provide them. Especially with the perspective of a newcomer to SDL, you might be able to explain the API's use more effectively to another newcomer than an SDL "expert" could.

** - in a way that would seem familiar to an iPhone developer




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