Interview: Ian Romanick, Graphics Programmer

By Dawn M. Foster (91 posts) on December 16, 2009 at 8:00 am

Ian RomanickIan Romanick is a Software Engineer in Intel's Open Source Technology Center. He is also one of Intel’s representatives to the OpenGL ARB. For the past 8 years he has been working very diligently to make OpenGL on Linux better. He has been doing graphics programming for 18 years, having released his first Amiga demo in 1991. Ian holds a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science from Portland State University. In his spare time, he teaches graphics programming in the Visual and Game Development program at the Art Institute of Portland.

Dawn: What do you like about working in Intel's Open Source Technology Center (OTC)?

Ian: To be perfectly honest, there's very little to not like! Intel, and the OTC especially, is a great place to work. My position here allows me to guide the direction of current and future software products, and it allows me to help guide the direction of future hardware products. For someone who is intensely passionate and strongly opinionated about 3D graphics, this is a terrific position to be in!

Dawn: Why is OpenGL so important to Intel, and what improvements have you been working on recently for OpenGL on Linux?

Ian: OpenGL continues to be the only portable, cross-platform interface for 3D graphics. Various flavors of OpenGL span devices from cell phones to supercomputers... also known as Intel's product line. As the OTC representative to the OpenGL Architecture Review Board, I help make sure that future versions of OpenGL expose the functionality of Intel's hardware products.

Dawn: Can you tell us about your work on the Mesa 3D graphics library?

Ian: My primary mission has always been providing the necessary infrastructure inside Mesa to allow drivers to expose the full functionality of the hardware. Since coming to Intel, that mission hasn't changed. Lately I have been focusing more on infrastructure relating to both high-level and low-level programmable shaders.

Dawn: What do you do for fun when you aren't working on open source software at Intel?

Ian: During warmer weather, I like to spend time in my garden and on my bike. During colder and wetter weather, I like to stay inside and play first-person shooter games. I'm also in the process of finally getting a Master's degree at Portland State University, and I spend a fair amount of time teaching graphics programming at another local university.

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