[MUD-Dev] Introduction

[Dan Root]

Ling <K.L.Lo-94 at student.lut.ac.uk> writes:

> On Mon, 12 May 1997, Dan Root wrote:
> 
> > In the case of most forth derivatives there's no overhead in the first
> > example as compared to storing just a string.  (actually, there's a
> > tiny amount, since you need an extra lookup to get from the function
> > to the string's address, but it's pretty negligible)
> 
> Forth...  I found Forth quite hard to get to grips with.  If I was at the
> stage of choosing a language, I can imagine myself making up an object
> orientated basic language.  Lists and stacks...

I still haven't decided.  I've got most of the language pinned down
except what sort of syntax to use.  I'll probably end up rolling my
own.


> One of my aims is to be able to run a separate process which can talk to
> the server, run a scenario and then die in the corner.  How to do this,

That's one advantage.  The other I can see is that evenutally I can
move the extra process to other machines entirely if need be.


> Then all sorts of extra things could be added.  Want support for a new mud
> protocol to be added in?  Just add on another IO process.  Someone written
> a CPU intensive AI for muds?  Add another IO process...  Naturally those
> IO processes' codes can be combined whenever there's a full reboot.

Yup, more or less.  And you don't have to kick the users off to do
it. :)

> > I though about this actually, but shared memory is evil.  Using udp
> > packets allows me to let the operating system buffer them on the
> > connection as packets of non-uniform size which I can pull off in
> > order as I need them.  I don't presume that I can do a better job than
> > my OS for this. :)
> 
> Hmm...  Doesn't quite sound right, looks like lack of coding time.  Then
> again....

One has to be very careful dealing with shared memory to get
syncronization right.  Additionally, not all systems support it (or
support it well as the case may be).  Using packets like that allows
me to get the effect of IPC messages without certain worries.  And as
I say above, the difference between a UDP packet sent to localhost and
to a machine on the network is pretty negligable. :)

	-DaR
--
Dan Root - dar at thekeep.org