Mercury MUD Driver / News: Recent posts

I've packaged a binary release of mercury-driver-0.0.6.tar.gz built for Windows platforms and including cygwin1.dll (for users who don't have Cygwin installed.)

Simply go to the "Files" link, download the mercury-win32-binary-0.0.6.zip file and unzip it. You can run the test programs from the directory that is created.

Per the distribution license of cygwin1.dll (The GNU General Public License), source for the base Cygwin package (which includes the DLL) is also available from the "Files" link. YOU DO NOT NEED TO DOWNLOAD THIS TO RUN THE PROGRAMS!... read more

Added in this prototype release are:

* package/namespace support for classes
* integration of network server and VM test (via /exec command from chat client)
* terminal output support in virtual machine
* addition of SOUT instruction for outputing strings to terminal
* obsolete ./src/VmTest.cpp and vmtest removed

Not too much new in this micro-release. The next step is the first pass of the Mercury-C compiler, and I want get the high level language available for mudlib development as soon as possible.

Added in this prototype release are:
* byte code instruction for determining object type (ISTYPE)
* native exception class, with stack trace
* multiple thread scheduling and a (simple) thread lifecycle
* object file format (.mob) for assembled classes, with utility for dumping object files
* automatic class loading from assembly and/or pre-assembled object files
* simplification of VM test driver - it's no longer necessary to specify
each file to assemble or the number of cycles to run.
* Fixed compilation problem with RedHat 7.3 (type mismatch with third argument to getpeername()) and added FreeBSD 4.7/Solaris 8 to list of supported build platforms - see README for details.... read more

Added in this prototype release are:
* conversion of internal data representation to VmObject wrapper
* automatic reference counting
* map and list reference data types
* class instances re-implemented as maps
* extended array reference types
* native class support
* preliminary native string class

Mercury has also been updated to build on a number of new platforms - see the README in the source distribution for details. The README has also been updated with a new VM test example (for exercising the native string class)... read more

I've updated the release plan with the features I will be adding in the v0.0.4 prototype release. This release will include the first (and almost certainly not the last) retooling of existing code, so there's likely to be a bit of a delay. Check the Open Discussion forum for details.

I'm shooting to have v0.0.4 ready at least by September 12, but hopefully before then.

Added in this prototype release are:
* preliminary exception support
* object instantiation
* instance methods and members
* instance constructor
* method argument passing
* method return values

Inheritance is not supported yet, nor are instance destructors
or class constructors/destructors. Exceptions are currently
string references and can not be caught (i.e. throwing an
exception will terminate the thread.)... read more

Added in this prototype release are:

* multiple assembly files
* string support
* class members and methods (no arguments or return values yet)
* class and method resolution by name

Argument passing and method return values (as well as instantiation of objects, instance methods and instance members) have been deferred to v0.0.3.

The README file in the distribution has been updated with instructions for running the two demo programs.... read more

Mecury is a C++ driver for interactive text-based multi-user applications, particularly multi-user role-playing games (e.g. MUDs) Mercury will define it's own OO scripting language for defining the game world and provide robust, secure and efficient platform support for the MUD developer. The basic architecture is similiar to the LPMuds (and derivatives.)

The initial code base, including a very simple "chat" server and a partial implementation of the virtual machine, has been checked into CVS. A release of the initial code base is available from the "Files" link on the project web page.... read more