macOS Should I learn OpenGL

[Duke Leto]

I have been working on a simulation app for iPhone, but have decided that it best fits as a Mac application because it uses the processor heavily.

Previously, I used CGGeometry to draw 2d circles and move them around. I had a class for each of these circles and moved them around. Is that acceptable, or should I learn a different method of drawing by using OpenGL?

 

[foidulus]

I have been working on a simulation app for iPhone, but have decided that it best fits as a Mac application because it uses the processor heavily.

Previously, I used CGGeometry to draw 2d circles and move them around. I had a class for each of these circles and moved them around. Is that acceptable, or should I learn a different method of drawing by using OpenGL?

Depends on what you want to do really, if you are happy with the circles(and other 2d primitives that have classes in the OS), then you would be better off sticking to that(they all get converted to OpenGL in the end anyway) than learning OpenGL, as it's pretty difficult to just do a "little" bit of OpenGL. It has a pretty steep learning curve at the start, but it will pay off in spades if you want to extend your app to do more intensive graphics processing(or if you want to port it to other Non-Mac platforms)

 

[Duke Leto]

Thanks! I know that I will stick to circles and rectangles (given the nature of the simulation), so I will not stress over OpenGL!!

By the way, if I am trying to keep an MVC pattern, is it acceptable to allow a view class to be able to drag itself? (And handle other mouse events?)