[x3d-public] procedure for timely resolution of straightforward X3D specification issues

[Don Brutzman]

As people may have noticed, our close review of the X3D specification, schema and DTD have uncovered a number of small but important issues.  This formal review has been going on since mid 2015.

Compared to past X3D improvement cycles, here is what has been different for the past year:
a. We have been producing an X3D JSON Encoding, which is a strict object model.
b. We have been producing a even more-general X3D Object Model that formally captures all of the relationships in the X3D Specifications.
c. We have begun putting the X3D Specification draft documents into github version control for shared editing and detailed member review.

Rigorously testing and confirming the entire X3D design in this manner is an important prerequisite for X3D 4 work on HTML5/DOM and Mixed Augmented Reality (MAR).  Achieving next-generation capabilities will not be accomplished without a rock-solid foundation in the current architecture.

This effort is producing significant improvements in X3D capabilities, stability and quality assurance.  For example, an author's ability to check content validity is more powerful than ever.  For example, it is likely that we will be using the X3D Object Model to autogenerate open-source codebases for the Scene Access Interface (SAI) in Java, JavaScript and C++ by this coming summer.  These will be open-source utility libraries for handling X3D scene graphs, not 3D display renderers.  For example, it is conceivable that availability of consistent strongly-typed libraries in multiple programming language will spur development of new application codebases, broader use of X3D by individual programmers, and even make server-side processing of X3D commonplace.

What has not occurred: finding any major flaws, or making any major changes. The X3D architecture is sound and coherent.  It is now becoming fully consistent across all programming languages and file encodings.

At this point we have now completing the first end-to-end pass of the entire specification.  As diligently reported on the mail list, changelogs and version control, we are careful to not make any significant changes without working-group review.

The Mantis issue tracker lists 371 current issues, over half of which occurred during this review.  We estimate that the majority can be resolved quite quickly.

For the next pass, we propose the following procedures.
d. Non-controversial changes are made directly in X3D Schema, DTD and related quality tools - X3D Tooltips, Schematron, JSON schema, Object Model, etc.
e. Updates and subsequent testing continue to be recorded in changelogs, Mantis issue tracker, working-group minutes and occasional release reports.
f. Following subsequent testing and draft editorial updates in the specification, lists of ready-to-close Mantis issues are posted for review.
g. Issues with consensus and without comment are closed as RESOLVED.

Comments and improvements on this streamlined procedure are welcome.

We are copying the x3d-public mailing list so that the community appreciates the magnitude of work that is occurring.  Everyone is invited to join Web3D Consortium so that you can have full exposure to this activity, making sure that your needs are met and X3D's potential is fully understood.  Membership has value, you are welcome to join us.

Sincerely yours, Don Brutzman and Roy Walmsley
X3D Working Group Co-chairs

-- 
Don Brutzman  Naval Postgraduate School, Code USW/Br       brutzman at nps.edu
Watkins 270,  MOVES Institute, Monterey CA 93943-5000 USA   +1.831.656.2149
X3D graphics, virtual worlds, navy robotics http://faculty.nps.edu/brutzman