[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 6, Issue 3

[Zach Collins {Siege}]

On Fri, 7 Nov 2003, Alex Chacha wrote:

> I am at a crossroads now, I am very frustrated with Java, the
> whole build once run anywhere slogan sounds great, but it has not
> worked for me yet.  This is my third project where Java was used
> on the client-side (I am never in the loop on those decisions) and
> none of the 3 projects worked.  One was converted to all HTML, one
> was changed to an ActiveX control for IE only and here I am on the
> third one and it doesn't look good.  I am the guy who codes
> quests, items, magic logic and spells; a bit specialized :) So UI
> is not my forte.

> Reading about the Mozilla XUL based interface is reassuring and
> that will be the technology I will pursue (given the FireBird is

...

> I am debating of switching to Win32 native client (would hate to
> lock out Linux and Mac users but it's a lot easier to develop and
> distribute), using Mozilla as a client or just give up on a
> semblance of UI and do it all in textmode via line interface.

At this point, I'd like to advocate Python and wxWindows for one of
your future projects.  The question of extra downloads isn't so much
of a problem - look at BitTorrent, which was written in Python but
distributed as a single download regardless of whether a user has
Python installed.

Python itself isn't much larger than Firebird for the full
distribution.  You can also package everything into one or two
files, removing modules and functionality which your client does not
need; this will reduce the download size as well as remove the need
to hunt around for missing packages.  Going the single-package route
may require you to issue a full download instead of an upgrade patch
if you begin using other modules, however.

Python comes with Tk, which is well-developed in its own right, but
Tk may or may not work well for your GUI developer(s).  wxWindows is
fairly popular, however, and recieving good attention from the
development community.  I've tried both, and so far think that
documentation is the only thing standing between a developer and the
use of either tookit.

Python, Tk, and wxWindows are open-source and cross-platform;
currently Mac users are lacking some minor functionality, but that's
a matter of finding more developers familiar with the platform who
are willing to contribute to the projects.

--
Zach Collins
(admitted Python advocate)
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