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Client/Server Implementation





 I've been doing some more work on the client/server stufff, most of which
is merging Eric Anderson's and my own work together.  But I thought it
might be a good idea to get a more general idea of what people want/expect
on the client.

 First, implementation of it.  Which of the following do you
consider important:

1) Finish the client/server split as soon as possible, and whether it
   doesn't handle things particularly well (or in a limited fashion), or the
   protocol is not documented is not important.  IT may also mean that
   the clients become frequently obsoleted as additional commands are added.

2) Make the client/server smart - do good and complete commands, so that
   it will not need to be extended later, but means it will take longer
   to complete.  IT may also mean that performance/efficiency of the
   commands may not be great.

3) There should be good documentation on what the protocol is, good
   documentation on what the code does, as well as keeping the code readable.

 Note that these are not necessarily exclusive of each other.  #3 will
probably delay either #1 or #2.

 Features:

A) Client should handle almost all player commands locally (things like
   pickup modes, changing ranges, inventory display, etc.)

B) Client should have fast startup.

C) Client should be able to take advantage of local image files so that
   they then do not need to be transmitted.

D) Client should be able to request all missing image files to be transmitted
   at startup.


  In both areas (1-3 and A-D), these are just the thoughts that I came
up with.  Feel free to add to this other things that you consider important.
What I am trying to get is some idea of what the near term goal should be.
If people want something done very quickly, that could happen, but it
should then be recognized that it may not be quite up to various
expectations.  Likewise, if people want a really nice client that
does everything, they could perhaps realize that it will be 6 months
before they get it.


 --Mark