August 1998
- Affordances and social method (Was: Wired Jon A. Lambert
- (Fwd) **NOTICE REGARDING YOUR SEARCHLIGHT SOFTWARE** Jon A. Lambert
- (Fwd) **NOTICE REGARDING YOUR SEARCHLIGHT SOFTWARE** John Bertoglio
- (Fwd) **NOTICE REGARDING YOUR SEARCHLIGHT SOFTWARE** Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- OT: BBSs, s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Ansii color, needing some specs and or pointer Jon A. Lambert
- Ansii color, needing some specs and or pointer Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- (fwd) "Smart" monsters Nathan Fenenga Yospe
- Interesting poll Koster, Raph
- Interesting poll John Bertoglio
- Milgram experiment (was WIRED: Kilers have more fun) Mike Sellers
- Implementing god. quzah
- Implementing god. Adam J. Thornton
- Implementing god. J C Lawrence
- Implementing god. Adam J. Thornton
- Implementing god. Koster, Raph
- Implementing god. Adam J. Thornton
- Implementing god. Koster, Raph
- Implementing god. J C Lawrence
- Implementing god. Marian Griffith
- Implementing god. Adam J. Thornton
- Implementing god. Andy Cink
- Blender: free version J C Lawrence
- Blender: free version J C Lawrence
- Blender: free version Adam Wiggins
- UOL/Linux client URLs J C Lawrence
- Socket-Script: Socket-capabable script language and matching library J C Lawrence
- Socket-Script: Socket-capabable script language and matching library Adam J. Thornton
- Socket-Script: Socket-capabable script language and matching library Chris Gray
- Socket-Script: Socket-capabable script language and matching library Chris Gray
- Socket-Script: Socket-capabable script language and matching library Adam J. Thornton
- Socket-Script: Socket-capabable script language and matching library Nathan F Yospe
- Socket-Script: Socket-capabable script language and matching library Adam J. Thornton
- Socket-Script: Socket-capabable script language and matching library ##Make Nylander
- Socket-Script: Socket-capabable script language and matching library Adam J. Thornton
- Socket-Script: Socket-capabable script language and matching library Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Why threading? (Was: Output Classification Notes) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Why threading? (Was: Output Classification Notes) J C Lawrence
- Secrets of the Game Designers s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- 3D World Models Leach, Brad BA
- 3D World Models S. Patrick Gallaty
- Toba Java->C Adam J. Thornton
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Franklyn Colebrooke, Jr.
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Adam J. Thornton
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Adam Wiggins
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Leach, Brad BA
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch T. Alexander Popiel
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Adam Wiggins
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch J C Lawrence
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Ross Nicoll
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch T. Alexander Popiel
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Holly Sommer
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch T. Alexander Popiel
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Nathan F Yospe
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Holly Sommer
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch T. Alexander Popiel
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Matt Chatterley
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Ross Nicoll
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Ross Nicoll
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Ross Nicoll
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch J C Lawrence
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch J C Lawrence
- [IDEAS] Starting from scratch Adam Wiggins
- Question regarding Java threads Jon A. Lambert
- Question regarding Java threads Chris Gray
- Question regarding Java threads Vadim Tkachenko
- Question regarding Java threads Ben Greear
- Question regarding Java threads J C Lawrence
- Question regarding Java threads Ben Greear
- Question regarding Java threads Jon A. Lambert
- Question regarding Java threads Chris Gray
- Question regarding Java threads Matt Chatterley
- Question regarding Java threads Ben Greear
- Protocols Vadim Tkachenko
- Events s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- after the plague: mud report S. Patrick Gallaty
- after the plague: mud report quzah
- after the plague: mud report Adam Wiggins
- after the plague: mud report Ling
- Object Storage Fact Book, Release 4.0 (fwd) Nathan F Yospe
- Affordances and social method (Was: Wire d Magazine...) J C Lawrence
- META: List combat character and racial memory (was Re: J C Lawrence
- META: List combat character and racial memory (was Re: kamikaze@kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu
- Black Isle's Baldur's Gate J C Lawrence
- Black Isle's Baldur's Gate Koster, Raph
- Black Isle's Baldur's Gate Chris Gray
- Black Isle's Baldur's Gate Koster, Raph
- 208.240.161.41 Adam J. Thornton
- 208.240.161.41 Vadim Tkachenko
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev J C Lawrence
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Chris Gray
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev J C Lawrence
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Vadim Tkachenko
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Adam Wiggins
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Robert Woods
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Richard Woolcock
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev quzah
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Richard Woolcock
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev T. Alexander Popiel
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Mike Sellers
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev J C Lawrence
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Michael Hohensee
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev J C Lawrence
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev quzah
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev John Bertoglio
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev quzah
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Chris Gray
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Scatter
- ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev J C Lawrence
- Adverts in email on the list. Ben Greear
- Adverts in email on the list. quzah
- Adverts in email on the list. Jon A. Lambert
- Adverts in email on the list. Holly Sommer
- Adverts in email on the list. Vadim Tkachenko
- Ethernet NICS, maximum connections..mud testing. Ben Greear
- Ethernet NICS, maximum connections..mud testing. Vadim Tkachenko
- Ethernet NICS, maximum connections..mud testing. Ben Greear
- Ethernet NICS, maximum connections..mud testing. Chris Gray
- lurker emerges James Wilson
- lurker emerges Chris Gray
- lurker emerges Adam J. Thornton
- lurker emerges Chris Gray
- lurker emerges Petri Virkkula
- lurker emerges T. Alexander Popiel
- lurker emerges James Wilson
- lurker emerges T. Alexander Popiel
- lurker emerges Vadim Tkachenko
- lurker emerges Ben Greear
- lurker emerges J C Lawrence
- lurker emerges T. Alexander Popiel
- lurker emerges Vadim Tkachenko
- lurker emerges T. Alexander Popiel
- lurker emerges Vadim Tkachenko
- lurker emerges T. Alexander Popiel
- lurker emerges Vadim Tkachenko
- lurker emerges T. Alexander Popiel
- lurker emerges Vadim Tkachenko
- lurker emerges Vadim Tkachenko
- lurker emerges Chris Gray
- lurker emerges Vadim Tkachenko
- lurker emerges J C Lawrence
- lurker emerges Petri Virkkula
- lurker emerges J C Lawrence
- lurker emerges Petri Virkkula
- lurker emerges Chris Gray
- lurker emerges J C Lawrence
- Adverts in email on the list. Chris Gray
- Fw: lurker emerges James Wilson
- Fw: lurker emerges T. Alexander Popiel
- Ethernet NICS, maximum connections..mud testing. Chris Gray
- Ethernet NICS, maximum connections..mud testing. Chris Gray
- Neat surrealistic graphical mudclients in Java? Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Ethernet NICS, maximum connections..mud testing. Chris Gray
- Ethernet NICS, maximum connections..mud testing. J C Lawrence
- Ethernet NICS, maximum connections..mud testing. Adam J. Thornton
- Ethernet NICS, maximum connections..mud testing. Ben Greear
- META/ADMIN: ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Mike Sellers
- META/ADMIN: ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Rule #3 S. Patrick Gallaty
- OT: Ethernet NICS, maximum connections..mud testing. Shawn Halpenny
- OT: Ethernet NICS, maximum connections..mud testing. Vadim Tkachenko
- META: List combat character and racial memory (was Re: Chris Gray
- List of rules suggestionbox Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- List of rules suggestionbox Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- async i/o and threads (was: lurker emerges) James Wilson
- async i/o and threads (was: lurker emerges Jon A. Lambert
- async i/o and threads (was: lurker emerges James Wilson
- async i/o and threads (was: lurker emerges Jon A. Lambert
- Amoeba: Distributed OS release J C Lawrence
- clients anyone?... Andrew Wilson
- clients anyone?... Adam J. Thornton
- clients anyone?... Andrew Wilson
- clients anyone?... Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- clients anyone?... Adam J. Thornton
- clients anyone?... Bruce Mitchener, Jr.
- clients anyone?... James Wilson
- clients anyone?... Adam J. Thornton
- clients anyone?... Andrew Wilson
- clients anyone?... Adam J. Thornton
- clients anyone?... Andrew Wilson
- clients anyone?... Adam J. Thornton
- clients anyone?... Adam Wiggins
- clients anyone?... Andrew Wilson
- clients anyone?... J C Lawrence
- clients anyone?... Andrew Wilson
- Re:Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout Michael.Willey@abnamro.com
- ADMIN: Over quoting (again) J C Lawrence
- JASSS: The Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation J C Lawrence
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout Leach, Brad BA
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout quzah
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout Michael.Willey@abnamro.com
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout Koster, Raph
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout Michael.Willey@abnamro.com
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout Koster, Raph
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout Brandon J. Rickman
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout quzah
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout Marian Griffith
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout Damion Schubert
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout J C Lawrence
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout J C Lawrence
- LinuxThreads and SIGUSR1 (Ref: [MUD-Dev]) Adam J. Thornton
- Eye movement. quzah
- Eye movement. James Wilson
- Eye movement. quzah
- Eye movement. S. Patrick Gallaty
- Eye movement. T. Alexander Popiel
- Eye movement. Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- OGR: Ion Storm's Witchboy talks about the functionality of enemy AI. J C Lawrence
- OGR: Ion Storm's Witchboy talks about the functionality of enemy AI. s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Methods to Reduce Ecological Wipeout (fwd) Marc Hernandez
- avoiding ecological wipeout Laurel Fan
- Passing file descriptors to other processes Adam J. Thornton
- Yet another update on threads and signals Adam J. Thornton
- Yet another update on threads and signals s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Yet another update on threads and signals Chris Gray
- Yet another update on threads and signals Adam J. Thornton
- Yet another update on threads and signals Chris Gray
- Yet another update on threads and signals Adam J. Thornton
- Yet another update on threads and signals Chris Gray
- Yet another update on threads and signals Adam J. Thornton
- OT: access s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Affordances and social method cat
- Affordances and social method cat
- Affordances and social method Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Affordances and social method Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Missing MUD-Dev post (fwd) Dr. Cat
- FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers have more fun Koster, Raph
- Affordances and social method Koster, Raph
- Marian's Tailor Problem Koster, Raph
- Marian's Tailor Problem Brandon Cline
- Marian's Tailor Problem Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Marian's Tailor Problem Brandon Cline
- Marian's Tailor Problem Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Marian's Tailor Problem Damion Schubert
- Marian's Tailor Problem Chris Gray
- UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers have more fun Koster, Raph
- UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers have more fun Mike Sellers
- UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers have more fun s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers have more fun Marian Griffith
- Question for the list (Semi-OT) Nathan F Yospe
- Question for the list (Semi-OT) Oliver Jowett
- Question for the list (Semi-OT) Jon Leonard
- Question for the list (Semi-OT) Ben Greear
- FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers have more fun Jon A. Lambert
- Private Affordances and social method Mike Sellers
- Private Affordances and social method Marian Griffith
- Private Affordances and social method Mike Sellers
- FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers have more fun Marian Griffith
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers have more fun Dr. Cat
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers have more fun S. Patrick Gallaty
- free XML Parser (was clients anyone?...) James Wilson
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Jon A. Lambert
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Koster, Raph
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers S. Patrick Gallaty
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers quzah
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers James Wilson
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Damion Schubert
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers J C Lawrence
- UBE/high: UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Dr. Cat
- Marion's Tailor Problem s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Marion's Tailor Problem Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Marion's Tailor Problem jwilson@rochester.rr.com
- Marion's Tailor Problem Travis Casey
- Marion's Tailor Problem Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Marion's Tailor Problem Adam J. Thornton
- Marion's Tailor Problem Travis S. Casey
- Marion's Tailor Problem Jynx {Wyrm / Tygr / Myth} Ryn
- Marion's Tailor Problem s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Marion's Tailor Problem Damion Schubert
- Marion's Tailor Problem Damion Schubert
- Marion's Tailor Problem Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Marion's Tailor Problem Adam Wiggins
- Marion's Tailor Problem quzah
- Marion's Tailor Problem Marian Griffith
- Marion's Tailor Problem J C Lawrence
- Marion's Tailor Problem Marian Griffith
- Marion's Tailor Problem Koster, Raph
- Marion's Tailor Problem Matthew R. Sheahan
- Marion's Tailor Problem quzah
- Marion's Tailor Problem Matthew R. Sheahan
- Marion's Tailor Problem Koster, Raph
- Marion's Tailor Problem Marian Griffith
- Marion's Tailor Problem Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Marion's Tailor Problem J C Lawrence
- Marion's Tailor Problem Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Marion's Tailor Problem Marian Griffith
- Slightly-OT: RPG Mapping Tool Holly Sommer
- UBE/high: UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Dr. Cat
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Scatter
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Marian Griffith
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Scatter
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Brandon J. Rickman
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Damion Schubert
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers quzah
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Marian Griffith
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Adam Wiggins
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Travis Casey
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Brandon J. Rickman
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers Koster, Raph
- Thoughts on Marian's Tailor Problem s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Standard Mud Room Format? plateau
- Standard Mud Room Format? T. Alexander Popiel
- Standard Mud Room Format? Michael.Willey@abnamro.com
- Standard Mud Room Format? J C Lawrence
- Standard Mud Room Format? Adam J. Thornton
- Standard Mud Room Format? Holly Sommer
- Standard Mud Room Format? Matthew R. Sheahan
- Standard Mud Room Format? Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Standard Mud Room Format? Scatter
- Tangent to the Tailor Marc Bowden
- PerLDAP, usefull for your perl-mud? quzah
- UBE/high: Affordances and social method Dr. Cat
- UBE/high: FW: UBE/high: W IRED: Kilers have more fun Dr. Cat
- Article: A Summary of Principles for User-Interface Design. J C Lawrence
- Article: A Summary of Principles for User-Interface Design. Adam J. Thornton
- Article: A Summary of Principles for User-Interface Design. Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Sockets permanently in CLOSE_WAIT state. (fwd) Oliver Jowett
- Fw: BlackSquad Releases File Formats Damion Schubert
- Revenants (Marion's Tailor Problem) Damion Schubert
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... Jynx {Wyrm / Tygr / Myth} Ryn
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... quzah
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... J C Lawrence
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... quzah
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... J C Lawrence
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... Marc Hernandez
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... Ben Greear
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... Greg Munt
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... Ben Greear
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... Jynx {Wyrm / Tygr / Myth} Ryn
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... Adam Wiggins
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... quzah
- Finer points of Telnet programming ... Greg Munt
- [off-topic] Email Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai
- Minimal MUD-kernel (was Finer points of Telnet programming ...) Niklas Elmqvist
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...] Jynx {Wyrm / Tygr / Myth} Ryn
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...] Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...] Adam J. Thornton
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...] Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...] Adam J. Thornton
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...] Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...] pomales
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...] Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...] Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...] Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...] Jynx {Wyrm / Tygr / Myth} Ryn
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...] Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Modular MUD Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Modular MUD Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Modular MUD Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Modular MUD Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai
- Modular MUD D. B. Brown
- Modular MUD quzah
- Modular MUD Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Modular MUD Adam J. Thornton
- Modular MUD Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Modular MUD Adam J. Thornton
- Modular MUD quzah
- Modular MUD J C Lawrence
- Modular MUD Adam J. Thornton
- Modular MUD Bruce Mitchener, Jr.
- Modular MUD Holly Sommer
- Modular MUD Adam J. Thornton
- Modular MUD Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Modular MUD Vadim Tkachenko
- Modular MUD John Bertoglio
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet progra Jon A. Lambert
- OS Wars [Was: Modular MUD] Jynx {Wyrm / Tygr / Myth} Ryn
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet progra Jon A. Lambert
- Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...] Chris Gray
- The 'consider' command Richard Woolcock
- The 'consider' command Damion Schubert
- The 'consider' command Jon Leonard
- The 'consider' command Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Scripting:was Modular Mud Jon A. Lambert
- Quake 3: How to do OpenGL J C Lawrence
- lockless system - foolproof? James Wilson
- lockless system - foolproof? Chris Gray
- lockless system - foolproof? J C Lawrence
- lockless system - foolproof? James Wilson
- lockless system - foolproof? J C Lawrence
- lockless system - foolproof? James Wilson
- lockless system - foolproof? J C Lawrence
On Sun, 30 Aug 1998 20:36:11 -0400
James Wilson<jwilson@rochester.rr.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 30 Aug 1998, J C Lawrence wrote:
>> On Sat, 29 Aug 1998 19:42:17 -0400 James
>> Wilson<jwilson@rochester.rr.com> wrote:
>> The easiest and perhaps the simplest way of attacking this is thru
>> approaching the level of parallelism in your execution model.
>> Again, taking the pessimal case, if the execution model degrades
>> until only one event is executing at a time, then X is guaranteed
>> to successfully C&C when its turn comes as there is no competition.
>>
>> This is the approach I take. Events enter the Executor with a
>> "priority" value. As events fail C&C they accumulate priority.
>> The executor's execution model then adapts dynamically per the
>> highest priority event on its list. At one end its the normal
>> unrestrained competition between events, and t the other it
>> degrades to single-tasking with everal stages in between.
> Are your events guaranteed to complete in bounded time?
No. I attempt (and fail) to guarantee correctness, not response time.
I do place a maximum cap on the execution time of non-priviledged
events however. Should they require more execution time they fail by
exception.
> You mentioned that you are designing with user scripting in mind. If
> one of those contentious events ends up getting a monopoly on cpu
> time, *and* it's of long/indefinite duration (which would seem to
> correlate nicely with the propensity for contentiousness),
> everything would freeze waiting for it.
Pessimally, nearly yes. In practice no. The game-wide event thru-put
will (fairly rapidly) degrade to single-tasking, and then resume
immediately with normal processing. Should the offensive event be a
raid respawner (ie there are many such events and/or each one creates
further like itself) which is the ultimately pessimal case, the game
will enter a yo-yo-like state of constantly entering single-tasking
mode and then leaving it.
However such excessively contentious events are easy to detect and
guard against. Here, I (used to) run a little statistics monitor that
would note any events that took the game to or near single tasking
mode, and if the repeated more than once an hour, would spoof the
defining object and freeze the event calls for admin intervention.
Aside: An optimisation and possible feature I've considered adding
is having the progression from single-tasking back to normal execution
be potentially graded on the basis of the past frequency of
single-tasking degredations. If they system has been decaying to
singletasking a lot lately, then it would take its time returning to
maximal parallelisation.
I can make the system protect itself from idiots. I cam make the
system resilient to attacks by idiots. I'm unwilling to make a system
which is proof against idiots.
> While some might say it seems a bad idea to allow users to write
> long-running functions, a scripting system would seem to me to be
> most useful to builders wanting to add new functionality to the
> world without having to muck about in the source code.
True, sorta. The caveat is on the definition of "source code". I
don't have that distinction. The only "programmer" source (ie C/C++)
is in the base server, which knows nothing about games, players, NPCs,
game worlds, etc. It merely knows about objects, network connections,
and an language byte-coding and execution, and ism when viewed from
inside the game, deliberately opaque and inviolate. As such the
entire game world from the lowest base principles on up is written in
the "scripting language" per se.
That said, much like the old argument of C vs Pascal, free scripting
on MUDs is akin to handing chainguns with hari triggers to monkeys.
> In this case, putting bounds on running time would be a serious
> constraint on builder creativity. Ideally, bounding runtimes should
> be a matter of policy rather than forced by the implementation.
Disagreed, strongly. The reason is actually simple: I find that
extremely long running or contentious events are actually of flawed
base design. There is always another divisional structure that allows
the same result to be accomplished with less contention points, and
often with far greater elegance.
eg
Assume a SHOUT command that passes its argument to all players and
NPCs. The obvious (and actually fairly common) approach is something
as follows:
for target in (players && NPCs)
deliver string
This is an obvious high contention candidate as the working set by the
end of the event will be extremely large. A possible low-contention
implementation, might be the following:
1) Logs an event X which does nothing collect a list of all
players and NPC's (fairly trivial by traversing the child-list of the
relevant root objects, thus having a working set of only two objects),
and then, as part of its C&C logs further events, either one per
target object, or one per small sub-set of target objects (lists are
your friend). This executes rapidly and has minimal contention.
2) The secondary logged events then run and deliver the string to
the relevant player/NPC's, each with a total working set of only the
target object, and thus minimal contention. These execute extremely
rapidly and have minimal contention.
Of course this also means that your execution model had better be
pretty efficient or you will spend all your time in the overhead of
building and tearing down events rathr than executing them.
This is the sort of things which I am unwilling to proof against. I'm
willing to make the system withstand such onslaughts (monolithinc long
running events), which it currently does, but I am not willing to
require the system to perform well under such (it doesn't).
Comparison:
I have (I wrote) a tool which processes debug log files and is quite
fast and efficient, as well as powerfully useful in post-mortem
debugging. As it is so fast etc I tend use it heavily. A critical
fact however is that this tool operates by loading its entire target
file into memory prior to processing -- which is one of the reasons it
is so fast, or at least until your debug log file size starts
approaching or exceeding your total system RAM size.
Will the tool still work when attempting to process an 8Gig debug
logfile on a system which only, say, 256Meg RAM? Absolutely. Just
don't expect any useful data back from it any time soon (I did this
once, accidentally). If you do wait long enough however, it will
work, quite correctly, and generate the expected data.
It is a design consideration. Most of my log files don't approach
the system free RAM limit. Ergo, the limit is "soft" and not of
concern. Ditto for the behaviour of ungraceful events in my process
model. They are capable of dragging the system to its knees, but they
are incapable of rendering the system either dead or non-progressive
(ie no events being processed). I consider that an acceptable
trade-off.
--
J C Lawrence Internet: claw@null.net
----------(*) Internet: coder@ibm.net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith... - lockless system - foolproof? T. Alexander Popiel
- lockless system - foolproof? J C Lawrence
- lockless system - foolproof? T. Alexander Popiel
- lockless system - foolproof? J C Lawrence
- lockless system - foolproof? James Wilson
- lockless system - foolproof? J C Lawrence
- lockless system - foolproof? J C Lawrence
- Admin: OS wars and avocacy are off-topic J C Lawrence