[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Client scripting

[Andrew McGuinness <andrew_mcguinness@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Quoting Raimar Falke <hawk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> On Sat, Jan 27, 2001 at 11:08:57AM +0000, Andrew McGuinness wrote:
> > Quoting Sune Kirkeby <sune@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> >
> > o Server side "higher-level" functions available to both, like the
> > current server-side "goto" and "worklist" features.
>
> IMHO this is a bad idea. It will make the server more complex. It
> won't allow alternative implementations. There may be things which
> look like straight forward but aren't. Wouldn't it be nice if a "goto"
> would also allow units to use a ferry boat so they can go to another
> continent. See also the discussion about another way of doing
> auto-settle.
>
>       Raimar
>

It wouldn't prevent alternative implementations - you could write
anything on the client.  The shortcoming is that it is then vulnerable
to disconnections.

I just shy away from the thought of trying to implement a virtual machine
for server-side scripting in raw C, to interact with a lot of old code.
If we were working in Java or something, I might feel different.

Perhaps if someone has actually worked with integrating guile or something
into an application, they can say it would be easy, but it just seems like
an awfully tall order to me.

Even if we had it, I still think there could be benefit in "native"
implementations of commonly-used functions, so work like, for example,
an improved auto-settler would not be wasted.

It would also, I suspect, need to work through essentially the same API
as the client, to prevent it from doing random things.  The work you're
doing now is still a prerequisite, therefore.

--
Andrew McGuinness     Luton, UK        andrew_mcguinness@xxxxxxxxxxx