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<H1>[MUD-Dev] Languages for MUD drivers</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Languages for MUD drivers</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: "Laurent Bossavit" &lt;<A HREF="mailto:laurent#netdive,com">laurent#netdive,com</A>&gt;</LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 03:01:55 +0100</LI>
<LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
<LI><em>Sender</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu">mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu</A></LI>
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<PRE>
Hi all,

As my quest for the perfect M* server design continues (I've been a 
deep lurker on the list for over one year, though some of you might 
remember my interest at one time in porting LambdaMOO to Java (done, 
but not the panacea I hoped)) I am more and more convinced that the 
crucial parts are the underlying (implementation) and visible (world-
building) languages - ideally both being the same.

A lot of the issues M* server designers and implementors struggle 
with are in fact active areas of programming language research. These 
are in approximate order of importance (for M* writers!)
 - distributed processing support (for large worlds)
 - concurrent processing support (for reactive worlds)
 - object orientation (for modular worlds)
 - object persistence (as in MOO)
 - run-time mutability (aka dynamic recompilation, as in MOO/ColdC)
 - reflective capabilities (so programs can modify themselves)
 - security (to enable in-game access to world code by 'wizards')

If we assume a language with the above properties, writing a M* 
driver is almost trivial. A thin layer of network code will handle 
client connections; a command parser will probably provide the most 
challenging exercise in low-level programming, writing core 
character/monster/item classes would almost belong to the 'world 
design' category.

I've recently been looking a dozens of languages old and new to see 
if any fit the bill - I'll mention as a random selection Obliq, 
Phantom, Oz, Erlang... So far only one actively supported language 
comes really close, E (www.erights.org). It's unfortunately not quite 
finished yet - the language spec itself is still evolving and 
persistence is not implemented - but in most other respects quite 
attractive for the purposes stated above. (In fact it actually 
started out as a language specifically to support virtual 
environments).

If you agree (or disagree) with the above assessment, or have 
pointers to languages which would make good candidates for 
implementing a M* server, please speak up. ;)



-[Morendil]-
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<li><strong><A NAME="00347" HREF="msg00347.html">[MUD-Dev] Languages for MUD drivers</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> "Petri Virkkula" &lt;pvirkkul@iki.fi&gt;</li></ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="00334" HREF="msg00334.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Languages for MUD drivers</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> J C Lawrence &lt;claw@cp.net&gt;</li></ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="00288" HREF="msg00288.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Languages for MUD drivers</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> "Ian Macintosh" &lt;iman@issystems.co.nz&gt;</li></ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="00268" HREF="msg00268.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Languages for MUD drivers</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> bruce@puremagic.com</li></ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="00264" HREF="msg00264.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Languages for MUD drivers</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Joey Hess &lt;joey@kitenet.net&gt;</li></ul>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>RE: [MUD-Dev] Admins as Mortals</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00322" HREF="msg00322.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Admins as Mortals</A></strong>, 
Sellers, Michael <a href="mailto:MSellers@maxis.com">MSellers@maxis.com</a>, Wed 17 Nov 1999, 23:48 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00338" HREF="msg00338.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Admins as Mortals</A></strong>, 
PartyG2816 <a href="mailto:PartyG2816@aol.com">PartyG2816@aol.com</a>, Thu 18 Nov 1999, 01:33 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00270" HREF="msg00270.html">[MUD-Dev] Matrix</A></strong>, 
Laurent Bossavit <a href="mailto:laurent@netdive.com">laurent@netdive.com</a>, Tue 16 Nov 1999, 21:19 GMT
<LI><strong><A NAME="00266" HREF="msg00266.html">[MUD-Dev] Library news</A></strong>, 
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw@cp.net">claw@cp.net</a>, Tue 16 Nov 1999, 05:12 GMT
<LI><strong><A NAME="00259" HREF="msg00259.html">[MUD-Dev] Languages for MUD drivers</A></strong>, 
Laurent Bossavit <a href="mailto:laurent@netdive.com">laurent@netdive.com</a>, Tue 16 Nov 1999, 02:37 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00264" HREF="msg00264.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Languages for MUD drivers</A></strong>, 
Joey Hess <a href="mailto:joey@kitenet.net">joey@kitenet.net</a>, Tue 16 Nov 1999, 03:46 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00268" HREF="msg00268.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Languages for MUD drivers</A></strong>, 
bruce <a href="mailto:bruce@puremagic.com">bruce@puremagic.com</a>, Tue 16 Nov 1999, 05:49 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00288" HREF="msg00288.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Languages for MUD drivers</A></strong>, 
Ian Macintosh <a href="mailto:iman@issystems.co.nz">iman@issystems.co.nz</a>, Wed 17 Nov 1999, 16:31 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00299" HREF="msg00299.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Languages for MUD drivers</A></strong>, 
Greg Miller <a href="mailto:gmiller@classic-games.com">gmiller@classic-games.com</a>, Wed 17 Nov 1999, 21:24 GMT
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