November 2000
- Walking Philip Loguinov, Draymoor
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #231 - 4 msgs Dr. Cat
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #231 - 4 msgs J C Lawrence
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #231 - 4 msgs Koster, Raph
- Atomic functions Felix A. Croes
- Atomic functions Ben
- Atomic functions Christopher Allen
- Atomic functions Ben
- Atomic functions Felix A. Croes
- Atomic functions KevinL
- Atomic functions Felix A. Croes
- Atomic functions KevinL
- Atomic functions KevinL
- Mud Dev FAQ part II Marian Griffith
- Walking Robert Zubek
- Opinions (even harsh) on Castle Marrach by Skotos? Christopher Allen
- Articles & Columns at Skotos Christopher Allen
- skotos David Zimet
- skotos Christopher Allen
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Koster, Raph
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Marian Griffith
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" birgit.schulte@philips.com
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Norman Short
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Jeff Freeman
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" gmiller@classic-games.com
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Travis Casey
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Lars Duening
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Travis Casey
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Lars Duening
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Travis Casey
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Lars Duening
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Travis Casey
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" John Buehler
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Vincent Archer
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" John Buehler
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" John Buehler
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Vincent Archer
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Peter
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" John Buehler
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Vincent Archer
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Travis Casey
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" KevinL
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" John Buehler
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" KevinL
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" John Buehler
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Xuri
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" John Buehler
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" KevinL
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Rhys
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Justin Rogers
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Ted Milker
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Steve {Bloo} Daniels
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Zak Jarvis
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Patrick Dughi
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Travis Casey
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Madrona Tree
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Madrona Tree
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Michael Tresca
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Jeff Freeman
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Jon Lambert
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Travis Casey
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" |Eric|
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Miroslav Silovic
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" John Buehler
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Corey Crawford
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" ghovs@ghovs.moo.ca
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Corey Crawford
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Marian Griffith
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Travis Casey
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Richard Tew
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Chris Gray
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Steve {Bloo} Daniels
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Richard Tew
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" msew
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" John Buehler
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" the_logos@www.achaea.com
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" geoffrey@yorku.ca
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" John Buehler
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" the_logos@www.achaea.com
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Geoffrey@yorku.ca
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Vincent Archer
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Jason Belhumeur
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Val Trullinger
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Lee Sheldon
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Travis Casey
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Robert Zubek
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Eric Rhea
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Wells, Thomas
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Travis Casey
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Richard Tew
- "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG" Koster, Raph
- "Virtual" What? Dave Rickey
- Object Models Ben
- Object Models J C Lawrence
- Object Models Dmitri Zagidulin
- Object Models KevinL
- Object Models Tony Wooster
- Object Models david.l.smith@home.com
- Object Models KevinL
- Object Models Gavin Doughtie
- Object Models John Robert Arras
- Object Models KevinL
- Object Models Bruce
- Object Models Ben Chambers
- Object Models Bruce
- Object Models KevinL
- Object Models Gavin Doughtie
- Object Models KevinL
- Object Models Travis Casey
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models Travis Casey
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models Chris Gray
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models Chris Gray
- Object Models olag@ifi.uio.no
- Object Models Miroslav Silovic
- Object Models Joe Andrieu
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models Miroslav Silovic
- Object Models Miroslav Silovic
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models Miroslav Silovic
- Object Models KevinL
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models Miroslav Silovic
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models Miroslav Silovic
- Object Models Bruce
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models Bruce
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models Phillip Lenhardt
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models olag@ifi.uio.no
- Object Models Travis Casey
- Object Models Miroslav Silovic
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models msew
- Object Models Russ Lewis
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models Phillip Lenhardt
- Object Models Travis Nixon
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models msew
- Object Models Andy
- Object Models Christopher Allen
- Object Models Chris Gray
- Object Models Travis Casey
- Object Models Marc Bowden
- Object Models Miroslav Silovic
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models Miroslav Silovic
- Object Models John Buehler
- Object Models Bruce
- Object Models John Buehler
- ADMIN: Lost posts J C Lawrence
- Multiple Inheritance (was: Object Models) Bruce
- Fanfic (Or: Why we can't all get along) Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Fanfic (Or: Why we can't all get along) John Buehler
- Participatory Content (was Opinions (even harsh) on Castle Marrach by Skotos?) Christopher Allen
- Object Models (OO 101) Gavin Doughtie
- Consistent Characters (Was Remote client connection) John W Pierce
- Consistent Characters (Was Remote client connection) Marian Griffith
- (no subject) John Buehler
- (no subject) Mordengaard
- (no subject) John Buehler
- (no subject) Marian Griffith
- (no subject) John Buehler
- (no subject) John Buehler
- (no subject) KevinL
- (no subject) John Buehler
- (no subject) Joe Andrieu
- (no subject) Bruce
- (no subject) John Buehler
- (no subject) KevinL
- (no subject) John Buehler
- (no subject) KevinL
- (no subject) Dan Merillat
- (no subject) John Buehler
- (no subject) Brian 'Psychochild' Green
Some comments.
John Buehler wrote:
> Also, I don't want anything to do with
> weakly-typed languages - aka script languages. They are a nightmare to
> debug when you get above some trivial number of lines of code. All checking
> happens at runtime and you have to rely on testing in order to find out if
> your system works. Fast and loose only works for one iteration of coding.
> If you then want to build on that first iteration, you quickly find out how
> messy things can get.
In one of my first jobs I spent a year maintaining a 16-bit
framework-based Windows application written in C/C++. It relied on some
libraries. It was mapping software with lots of custom features. The
application probably had tens of thousands lines of code. It was
fragile and a bit buggy.
I also spent a bit under two years working on Meridian 59. The basic
client and server were written in C while the game mechanics were
written on the server side with a custom, weakly-typed scripting
language. The code for game mechanics was several thousand lines of
scripting. It was fragile in certain areas, and was buggy just like any
other online game.
Given this experience, I heartily disagree with John's statement above.
Maintenance of either system was horrific. Meridian 59 was probably a
bit more tolerable because it was something I gave a damn about.
There is one important difference, though. The application I maintained
for my earlier job was theoretically written by programmers. These were
people that at least had enough training and/or patience to get the code
to compile.
The Meridian code, however, was not so lucky. Often people with little
programming training (Hi, Damion!) were adding to major sections of the
code. Yet, I would say that it was not any harder to work with than the
other project. If anything, the individual modules were better defined
because the programmers didn't try a whole lot of "neat" things to
"optimize" the code.
Admittedly I haven't been programming professionally as long as John
has, but I've developed a few of my own theories that have been echoed
by some of my colleagues and friends.
First, you should use the tool most appropriate for the job. There are
no silver bullets on the technical side of things. Damned near
everything is a tradeoff: size vs. speed, memory vs. processor,
development cycle vs. maintainability, etc. I am always wary when
someone claims they have the "perfect" answer with no mention of
tradeoffs.
As a side note, longer development cycles are great in theory, but they
aren't happening. The trend in the game industry is to shorten the
cycles to get product out quicker. As I left 3DO, the typical cycle for
a game given an existing graphics engine was 6 months. Not what I'd
call comfortable, since about a third of that can be spent in "crunch
mode".
Second, you simply cannot save bad programmers from themselves. I like
to think that I'm a good programmer and have enough sense to plan what
I'm going to do. Some people aren't as disciplined. These people will
always put together haphazard code, no matter what you do. They will
find ways to make their jobs "easier" and your job as a maintainer a
living hell.
All the things that John's preaching about components vs. inheritance
sound quite similar to what the Object Orientated (OO) fans said about
OO vs. procedural programming back in the day. Don't get me wrong, I am
an OO programmer myself; I also think that components sound interesting
and John's posts have spurred a bit of research. Yet, I don't think
that OO is a panacea, and doubt that components will be one, either.
Just my opinions.
--
"And I now wait / to shake the hand of fate...." -"Defender", Manowar
Brian Green, brian@psychochild.org aka Psychochild
|\ _,,,---,,_ *=* Morpheus, my kitten, says "Hi!" *=*
ZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ "They're not bugs, they're 'place-
|,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-' holders for code that works.'"
'---''(_/--' `-'\_) - Andrew Kirmse, Meridian 59 creator
- (no subject) Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- facist marketers / content controllers msew
- facist marketers / content controllers Dave Rickey
- And the lines blur between rl and games!!! msew
- "gossip" Josh Rollyson {dracus}
- Official announce of nevrax.org www site Vincent Archer
- Intersection of Fanfic & Participatory Content Christopher Allen
- A list of Content Creation Eric Rhea
- Refactoring (was Object Models) Gavin Doughtie
- PDA-esque devices used in gaming |Eric|
- Weather and Multiple Planets Greg Mitchell
- Weather and Multiple Planets rayzam
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Vincent Archer
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Lee Sheldon
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Koster, Raph
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) rayzam
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Travis Nixon
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Matthew Mihaly
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) McQuaid, Brad
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Travis Nixon
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) rayzam
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Matthew Mihaly
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Davian
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Dave Rickey
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Matthew Mihaly
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Dave Rickey
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Lee Sheldon
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Lee Sheldon
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) McQuaid, Brad
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Lee Sheldon
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Madrona Tree
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Lee Sheldon
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) msew
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Phillip Lenhardt
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Justin Hooper
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Travis Nixon
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Dave Rickey
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) J C Lawrence
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Ananda Dawnsinger
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Ananda Dawnsinger
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Marian Griffith
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Tamzen Cannoy
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Timothy Dang
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) msew
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Travis Nixon
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Nathan F.Yospe
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Phillip Lenhardt
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Justin Hooper
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Travis Casey
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Justin Hooper
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Travis Casey
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Madrona Tree
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Jeff Freeman
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) rayzam
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Jeff Freeman
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Koster, Raph
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Jeff Freeman
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Klyde Beattie
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Travis Nixon
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Hulbert, Leland
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Vincent Archer
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Vincent Archer
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Jeff Freeman
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Madrona Tree
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Madrona Tree
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Justin Hooper
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Willowreed@aol.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Willowreed@aol.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) J C Lawrence
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) msew
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Dave Rickey
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) J C Lawrence
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) J C Lawrence
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Zak Jarvis
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Hulbert, Leland
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Jeff Freeman
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Jeff Freeman
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) J. Coleman
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Travis Nixon
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) msew
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Chris Lloyd
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) msew
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Chris Lloyd
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Travis Nixon
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Marian Griffith
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) msew
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Jon Lambert
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Koster, Raph
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Chris Lloyd
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Dan Shiovitz
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) shren
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Dave Rickey
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) shren
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Travis Casey
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) the_logos@www.achaea.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Travis Casey
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Vincent Archer
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) twm139@its.to
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Vincent Archer
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Travis Nixon
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Vincent Archer
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Timothy Dang
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Michael Tresca
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Justin Hooper
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Holly Sommer
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Marian Griffith
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) msew
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Travis Casey
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Joe Andrieu
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) S. Patrick Gallaty
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Zak Jarvis
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Vanderbeck
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Matthew Mihaly
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Vincent Archer
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) McQuaid, Brad
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Vincent Archer
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Richard Tew
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Dave Rickey
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) J C Lawrence
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) John Buehler
- Interesting EQ rant (very long quote) Jon Lambert
- Dynamic Timelines Lord Ashon
- Dynamic Timelines |Eric|
- Dynamic Timelines Bruce
- Dynamic Timelines James Thomas
- Dynamic Timelines Travis Casey
- Neopets Matthew Mihaly
- Threads Ben Chambers
- Consistent Characters Jeremy Hovance
- Consistent Characters Travis Casey