[MUD-Dev] Python script as stand alone MUD server...

[Jason Slaughter]

I was searching the archives of the mailing list for a discussion on
using Python as a mud server... I found some people talking about
using Python as the scripting language embedded in their mud server
written in some other language (presumably C++). But very little
discussion regarding coding a mud server entirely in Python.

I was looking at languages that could be used for mud
development. What I was looking for was something that runs
unchanged on most operating systems (I want to program it and test
it on my Windows PC, and then just FTP it to my Linux server to
actually run), something that was cheap (or free!), and preferably
open source (which excluded Java... which although meets all the
other criteria, there is just something more comfortable about using
open-source). I also wanted to avoid using something that requires
an external database.

Python fit all the criteria plus some. The language is very nice, of
course. I can use the same language for scripting and for the actual
server (and a cinch to integrate the scripting). It has very easy to
use libraries for sockets and threading. All in all it seems like a
good choice.

I am wondering if there are any issues I am not anticipating with
using Python? I am also wondering why there isn't more excitement
about Python in the MUD community (am I just caught up in the Python
hype)?

Of course, being a scripting language, it will be slower than
compiled code, but is that really going to be an issue? It seems to
me the bottleneck in a mud server would be in the game logic, not in
the lower level server/socket stuff (and the game logic would
ultimately come down to Python scripting even if I compiled the
server using C++, and used Python only for scripting)... so I would
say that as far as speed goes, the loss won't be crippling at all
(and it would be worth spending an extra $1000 on a faster server,
at least, if it means saving a 100+ hours in programming and
debugging).

What are some other issues that I have to think about using Python?
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev