[MUD-Dev] Re: Scripting languages

[justice at softhome.net]

Lars Duening writes:

> Sandboxing. Execution times can be limited (no endless loops),
> access to system resources can be restricted, language resources
> can be controlled (no oversized arrays), etc.

> It all depends of course on the type of your MUD. If most of the
> MUD's logic is hardcoded in the driver, and the scripts are just
> used to add customizations, the extensive sandboxing of a custom
> language is probably not needed. On the other hand for a LP-style
> MUD where the MUD logic itself is all scripted, sandboxing becomes
> rather important (especially if the MUD follows the traditional
> wizarding system).

I'd say it depends more on the tastes of the developer.

At work I deal with clients.  Some of the "secure" clients are so
secure that it's impossible to get any work done (the necessary
resources are locked down).

With a relatively small amount of code (under 2 printed pages),
Rhino allows me to control exactly what classes can be instantiated.
Without some additional code, a watchdog prevents infinite loops.

There's not much I can do to increase the sandbox without falling
into the hole that those "secure" clients did.  Too much security
for people to get work done.

On the other hand, I'm not allowing players to use the scripting.  I
may in the future, but I'd probably write a simple pre-processor to
filter out insecure language features.  I intend to write a
pre-processer to simplify certain tasks anyway.

I can't speak for other embeds, but I'm sure that Rhino at least is
powerful and flexible enough to run a softcode system similar to LP.
It's not how I handle things, but I'm sure it can.

It really boils down to costs and benefits.  Personally, I'm busy
and time was the major deciding factor.  Rhino and JavaScript had
several benefits to offer, and fit what was needed.

IMHO, there's no reason for most people to write a custom language.
There are benefits to it, but I don't think they outweigh the costs.
This changes somewhat for scripting on some commercial games.  For
the average game developer, the develop/debug time and prequisite
skills, performance, etc are prohibitive, especially with a
tight/nonexistant budget.

 -- Kwon J. Ekstrom
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