Message-driven object-oriented programming: a promising solution to virtual reality construction

Virtual reality (VR) features an impressive virtual world which operates like a real one. However, convenient tools for the VR construction work are not available yet, although there are tools like OpenInventor and WorldTooLKit (WTK) which relieve programmers of some low level and hardware related jobs. One of the key problems under discussion is to find a uniform and well organized structure for the program layout so that a better sharing of VR resources may be achieved. We discuss some basic tasks in constructing a virtual world and suggest message driven object oriented programming as a possible solution to problems concerning network VR and multiworld VR. Experimental programs developed with this technique operate satisfactorily, showing the promising future of a new virtual reality construction tool.