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sn#046238 filedate 1973-06-05 generic text, type T, neo UTF8
~F8DATA STRUCTURE: BASICS.
The two generic data structures of CRE are arrays and nodes;
there are five kinds of arrays and eight kinds of nodes. The node
structures to be discussed are implemented as seven word fixed sized
blocks in a fashion usual to graphics and simulation; an
introduction to this technology can be found in Knuth [4]. The
language of implementation is PDP-10 machine code via the FAIL
assembler.
The whole nodal structure in CRE represents a sequence in
time of video intensity contour maps. Such contour maps are like
topographical elevation contour maps, in that no two contour lines
should every cross and in that all the contour lines should close.
Consequently, the loops of contours enclose regions; and these
regions overlap in a nested fashion forming a tree like data
structure.
As the general examples of contoured images on page 5
illustrate, a notion that is emphatically not in CRE, is that of a
schematic line drawing. Although the CRE output can be viewed as a
collection of lines on a display screen, people expecting a line
drawing rendition of the given television picture will be
disappointed. A CRE picture is a simple transformation of the
photometry, geometry and topology of the original video image;
whereas the typical line drawing from a human illustrator is a
representation of the scene without photometric information. On the
other hand, the work of an artist such as Peter Max; or a
paint-by-the-numbers grid does resembly CRE output. This is not an
idle coincidance but rather a consequence of whether or not the
artist is trying to represent photometric data by quantum lines.
The explanation of CRE node structures will be presented in
three parts: first, the several kinds of nodes will be briefly
explained; second, the sub structures such as rings, trees and
lists will be discribed; and third, the node formats and their
contents will be explained in detail. Following that will be an
explanation of the five arrays in CRE. The reader is warned that
this whole sub section (on data structure) is an elaborate shaggy
dog story of naming names and defining things; all the action is to
be found in the following sub section (on the algorithm).
~I1973,800;F8- 6 -