[Freeciv-Dev] Re: [RFC][Patch] Reduce bandwith by using deltas

["Per I. Mathisen" <per@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 4 Nov 2002, Raimar Falke wrote:
> > Now _please_ shoot this into flames if you think it is stupid before I
> > start any coding :)
>
> I also came to this solution (including something multiple times and
> change the semantic of certain macros). I don't think it will be more
> pretty.

Maybe not, I am not sure. But at least you do not require freeciv coders
to know Python... and a programming language you don't know is never
pretty.

> The disadvantage I see is that you can't look at the output.

gcc -E | more, no problem.

> And also can't save it (longer compile time for everyone).

As I said in the other post, you can autogenerate those files on
compilation using gcc -E > outputfile. I don't think that is a good reason
for doing it, however, since cpp is extremely fast and the difference in
compile time will be unnnoticable. (As opposed to running Python, I
suppose...)

> I'm working on version 2 of the delta protocol/generating. It will
> support all packets. Since this will break the complete protocol
> (capabilities won't help you here) I'm thinking about what else can be
> added at this time. One thing is sub-byte values.

Go for it. Oh, we can also finally remove the conn_info capability ;)

> Is this a good idea?

I have no idea what speed impact this bit parsing stuff will have.

> Also delta2 will not waste a byte for a bool but instead will use the
> bit in the fields to store the real value instead of the has-changed
> status.

Apart from bools, do we really waste so many bits for the other types?

  - Per