[MUD-Dev] Re: An Introduction

[J C Lawrence]

On Wed, 08 Jul 1998 19:22:09 +0200  Asmodai <Jeroen> wrote:
> Chris Gray wrote:
>> [Jeroen Ruigrok:]

> Yeah, that's exactly what I meant... I just wonder if we would be
> good for OS programming too then?  =) What do you (as the MUD-Dev
> list) commonly use for status control?  Flags, chars, bitmasks or
> other genious inventions?

Your question is so broad as to be almost unanswerable.  Its also
coming from the wrong side.  You don't (os shouldn't) design on the
basis of what tools are available, but on the basis of what tools fit
your design.  Thus, if you have a state variable, you first determine
the parameters of that state variable:

  -- How long much it persist?
  -- Will it need to persist across invocation, across threads, across
       function call, or merely for the duration of a call?
  -- Does it need to be portable to remote processes or RPC callers?
  -- Is it used for process or logical control?
  -- What are the characteristics of data for the variable?
  -- etc.

Once you have picked that out you can select which representation and
language feature best fits your requirements.

> Also a remark, we find (at least I do) OS's nice because of their
> layering model, but thus far I haven't been seeing that on MUDs
> yet. To explain what I mean, just think about the kernel and what
> gets loaded on top. Any corrections to my statement?

Partially true, partially not.  Some servers adtop quite layered
models, some less so.  Most of the soft-code based approaches are in
the more layered camp (eg Cold, MOO, Murkle, etc).

> But any ideas on Network programming titles? Also, I have K&R's C
> Handbook 2nd Ed. Any suggestions for another supplemental C book? 
> One that goes slightly further?

I've already championed Steven's TCP/IP books.  Other well used titles 
on my book shelf enclude:

  Unix Network Programming -- Stevens
  Advanced Unix Programming In the Unix Environment -- Stevens
  Design Patterns -- gang of four
  The C Programming Language -- K&R  (of couse)
  C, A Reference Manual --  Harbison, Steele (a must-have)
  The C++ Programming Language -- Stroustrup (of course)
  The Design and Evolution of C++ -- Stroustrup
  The Annotated C++ Reference Manual  -- Ellis, Stroustrup  (of course)
  The Standard C Library -- Plauger
  POSIX Programmer's Guide -- Lewine
  A couple C++ books by Bruce Eckel (at home so I don't have the titles)
  A couple C++ books by Pohl (at home so I don't have the titles, but
    I like Pohl))

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                               Internet: coder at ibm.net
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