[MUD-Dev] Writing a MUD Server in Visual Basic?

[Travis Casey]

Sunday, December 09, 2001, 4:18:19 PM, verb at rpn.port5.com wrote:

>> A colleague of mine has recently been talking about writing a MUD
>> server in visual basic, as he believes that the speed of current
>> machines more than outweighs VBs sluggishness.
 
>> I'm not so sure it's possible to write a server in VB, even for a
>> small scale world (~64 players), aren't there threading and load
>> balancing issues ?

> If i had to write a mud server in VB, i would probably think about
> reducing the strain on the server by processing as much as
> possible client side.  If the server just had to maintain the
> database, and provide a forum for the clients to communicate and
> request data, VB should be able to handle it for whatever size
> world. (this would also greatly reduce the bandwidth needed.)

> However, this will reduce the versitility of the MUD, and the
> players would have to install a large client to play, making the
> mud less accessable.

> VB just isn't suited for the task, and i would not consider using
> it for a mud server under any circumstances. Tell your colleague
> to learn C++ :)

I'm not sure that VB's lack of threading and slower performance than
"true" compiled code is as big an issue as people might think --
after all, LP muds and some other types also run on single-threaded
interpreters.  Such muds were handling tens or hundreds of
simultaneous players quite a few years back.

The biggest problem I can think of with VB as I knew it is the
limits on the size of the data space and code space.  How high are
those in the newer versions?  Do they still exist at all, for
practical purposes?

--
Travis Casey
efindel at earthlink.net
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