Re: Curses and SDL apps for Windows and MacOS

[Hans Ronne <hronne@comhem.se>]

>I'm in love with SDL.  I keep trying to find more
>excuses to play games in SDL.  (I take back everything
>I said about updating the TCK/TK interface, I can wait
>for SDL)  How many commands are implemented?  What's
>missing functionality-wise?

Well, I would say startup dialogs, network play, a notices pane, animations
and the research dialog are the most important missing stuff. Other things
like a help system would be nice but is not crucial.

>The way it runs right now, sans animations, might be a
>good option, at least for AI turns.  Not a default, of
>course, but I could see some times when it would be useful.

The absence of animations is actually one reason why the SDL interface is
so fast. I did some profiling two years ago, which showed that 90% of the
CPU time is spent on drawing animations:

http://sources.redhat.com/ml/xconq7/2002/msg00574.html

This was for the Mac interface, and a lot has happened since then, so the
precise figures may not apply today. However, I still think the anmimations
are responsible for most of the CPU time wasted.

Hans