[ODE] XODE status report

[William Denniss]

Hi,

Just so you know, XODE isn't vapour and I have been working with it on
and off this month in the background.

I am working on a reference implementation for an XODE reader.  With
this, as expected, several limitations of the format are coming to light
and I have made a few minor modifications to the spec.  Also, some
unneeded spec imposed limitations have been removed (for example
enforcing the transform style).

Once complete, it can serve as a guide to anyone implementing an XODE
reader, as well as a testing ground for models (I shall make a basic
XODE model viewer with the code).

A warning that there have been some changes to the spec - mostly either
simple ones to fix (with find-replace and a bit of tinkering) or are
backward compatible.  I strongly advice anyone using it in it's infant
stage to keep in contact with me on a regular basis.

The completed spec will consist of the text document, an XML schema,
recommended extensions and a comprehensive test suite.  A small web page
will be created to keep track of the updates and versions.

I'll post updates to this list as work progresses.  In terms of a
timeframe, I am wanting the beta reference implementation to be
completed in the next few days.

Cheers,

Will.