[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Software Transactional Memory?

[Richard Tew]

On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 7:09 PM, Matt Cruikshank
<mattcruikshank at gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, how about Software Transactional Memory? ?Seems like it might be
> excellent for reducing the errors of concurrency. ?Here's a nice video
> explaining STM:

Yes, in the past I have been involved with the early development of a
3D MMO for which STM was built in as a basic resource at the game
logic level.  The programmer who architected it had previously
developed the networking/clustering framework behind EVE Online.  I
think this is the way to go, build it into your own framework, rather
than adopt it as part of an existing one.

To adopt an existing solution, generally involves taking on its
inseparable luggage.  Like a whole programming language you would
otherwise never consider (e.g. haskell or clojure).  Or an entire
framework within which it is integrated, and the programming language
it is built upon (e.g. Project Darkstar and Java).

On the project darkstar note, here are some relevant links:

Scaling in Games & Virtual Worlds
http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1483105

Project Darkstar Game Architecture
http://research.sun.com/spotlight/2007/2007-08-30_darkstar.html

mnemoj is a memory-based implementation of the Project Darkstar API,
providing all the benefits of the software transactional memory model.
http://code.google.com/p/mnemoj/

Cheers,
Richard.