[MUD-Dev] Re: Using HTML for a Mud character generator

[Holly Sommer]

Huh. I never got the original of this, so I'll be commenting "out of 
context," unfortunately.

On Wed, 13 May 1998 s001gmu at nova.wright.edu wrote:

> On Wed, 13 May 1998, John Bertoglio wrote:
> 
> [...]
> 
> > Of course the server will have to make the same checks as the JS in the
> > form so players with HTML savvy can't create monster characters by
> > overriding the internal limits. This hacking element makes the backend work
> > so much more complicated than it really needs to be.....
> 
> You should be able to hide the entire contents of the javascript code by
> referencing a file, rather than embedding the script code in the html that
> they DL.  The java script still gets DL'd (of course), and executed
> locally, but should they choose to look at the html source, all they see
> is a tag referencing a file.  I don't recall the details (I've never
> worked in javascript), but I do know you can do it.

You cannot "hide" Javascript - even through referencing a *.js file to be 
loaded at read-time of your webpage, people can go directly to the js 
file. The good folks at comp.lang.javascript have gone over and over this 
for quite awhile :)

> > Any member of the list who would like to poach the code may feel free to do
> > so. I would be honored (while at the same time somewhat suprised...it is
> > pretty simple.).
> 
> Simple doesn't mean bad, or unworthy of attention.  Elegance in simplicity
> is always a driving factor in my code designs... I'd like to think I
> achieve it every once in a while.

To paraphrase Whitman: "Simplicity, simplicity - we need more simplicity; 
we spend so much time frittering away our lives on useless detailed 
complexity." I pretty much agree with that. The more complex something 
is, generally, the more fragile it is.

As for the Subject: line... well <pedant>You don't really use HTML to 
generate a character - it's just a markup language</pedant>, why not 
write a CGI which does the same thing as your in-server character 
generator, including die rolling and random fuzziness. It wouldn't be 
that tough :)

-Holly

--
MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.