                           HSHGL 3.00
                    A Portable Graphics Library

In preparation for a major release of HSHGL, we are making an alpha
release for folk to play with.  This release only works with X11 and
GHC (it almost certainly still runs on Hugs too but we haven't tested
recently).

We welcome bug reports, comments on how the system is packaged, the
web page, examples, comments from those who build binary and source
packages, etc. and especially welcome comments accompanied by patches
or cvs commit messages.

We are pleased to announce a new release of the HGL: a portable
graphics library.  The HGL gives the programmer access to the most
interesting and portable parts of the Win32 and X11 library. The
library is distributed as open source and is suitable for use in
teaching and applications.

This version supports:

  Filled and unfilled 2-dimensional objects (text, lines, polygons, ellipses).
  Bitmaps (Win32 version only, for now).
  Control over text alignment, fonts, color.
  Simple input events (keyboard, mouse, window resize) to support reactivity.
  Timers and double-buffering to support simple animation.
  Use of concurrency to avoid the usual inversion of the code associated 
   with event-loop programming.
  Multiple windows may be handled at one time.
  
To keep the library simple and portable, the library makes no attempt to 
support:
  
  User interface widgets (menus, toolbars, dialog boxes, etc.)
  Palette manipulation and other advanced features.
  Many kinds of input event.

This release is only for X11 and GHC.  We hope to have a Win32 release soon.

The library can be downloaded from: http://www.haskell.org/graphics/.
You will need GHC 6.0 and HSX11 1.00 to build the library.
Installation instructions are in HGL-3.00/INSTALL.
Bug reports should be sent to alastair at reid-consulting-uk.ltd.uk

Enjoy!
--
Alastair Reid  http://www.reid-consulting-uk.ltd.uk/
