[MUD-Dev] newbie

[coder at ibm.net]

On 04/11/97 at 09:21 PM, Sauron <dlove at kusd.kusd.edu> said:

>Generally hardcode is what you use to write the server and has to be
>compiled and restarted each time you make changes (note that i said
>generally, i know this isn't ALWAYS true). Softcode tends to be the
>internal programming language on your server. It has no need to be
>compiled, generally adds to lag, but is also on the average easier to use
>and uses the games internal functions to the best of their abilities. 

There are some notable exceptions here.  LP's LPC is easily recognisable
as "sfotcode", yet it is "compiled" into an internal form (bytecoding?  I
haven't checked), and in some versions can be compiled directly into
machine binaries.    ColC comparitively compiles into bytecode which is
then run by the Cold VM.  

>The
>real tradeoff is w/ hardcode you increase your cpu usage, and softcode it
>chews up your ram. Most good mu*s tend to have a balance of both types of
>programmed systems. 

Softcoded systems which compile to byte code lose many of their CPU
intensive aspects.  On a related note, disk based systems (don't keep
everything in RAM), can be much more effective at reducing CPU and RAM
consumption than the soft or hard code routes, as well as significantly
improving page fault rates and thus performance.  Marcus Ranum
demonstrated this very clearly.

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
----------(*)                              Internet: coder at ibm.net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...