Re: [Freeciv-Dev] Internationalization

[Matthew Ryall <ryall@xxxxxxxxxx>]

David Pfitzner wrote:

> Martin Christensen <factotum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> >   Now, about the server telling the client what text to display and
> > how, wouldn't it be easier to just enumerate all standard messages?
>
> I think this is generally a bad idea, because it means you can't
> easily add or change messages without introducing incompatability.
>

But wouldn't it be possible to have a set of 255 (or whatever, tho one
byte is a nice size) default codes that each stand for one of the
messages from client to server during the game. The translations of these
codes would be stored in a text file, loaded at the runtime by the
client, which could be in any language applicable.

These 255 codes would stand for events in the game, but the actual phrase
transmitted to a user could be easily changed from client to client, as
versions get updated. Also, having a large number of codes, there would
be potential for expansion, with a client responding with a standard
message such as "Server event not understood, please upgrade:
http://www.freeciv.org/";, or something such if there was no response
stored for that particular event.

This system would also mean that a lot of communication between server
and client would take less bandwidth, resulting in less lag.

I have not delved into the depths of the freeciv code however, so I don't
know how easily this could be implemented.

Thanks,
Matt Ryall

ryall@xxxxxxxxxx