Re: [Rails-devel] Starting on a client/server

[Erik V. <eri...@hc...>]

Hi Brett,

I'm very interested to see what you will come up with. In all honesty, Rails
has perhaps become a bit too much my own baby, and a fresh look way well be
in order. You're also solving my dilemma on how to continue myself - in the
near future I will now just keep adding more games to the existing code.

Of course, I have my own thoughts on how to achieve the client/server split,
and as you know I have already been working somewhat towards it. For
instance, I think you would do well to reuse the PossibleAction hierarchy,
to pass allowed and executed actions forth and back between client and
server (in some serialized form). On the other hand, the screen updates via
the ModelObject/ViewObject hierarchies do not translate well; the subclasses
can perhaps be retained, but the top classes need be redone as the
underlying Observer/Observable pattern must be replaced by something
completely different. I don't yet have a conceptual solution for that.
Although these are the main aspects of the client-server communication,
there is a lot more that I have not even started to think about (such as
changes to the current player and phase).

Anyway, I'll be happy to discuss such matters in more detail if you like,
but perhaps we can then better do that off-list, to avoid annoying the
onlookers.

I appreciate that you want to keep this new approach separate from the
existing code. Hopefully we can reintegrate later on.

Good luck,
Erik.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: rai...@li... 
> [mailto:rai...@li...] On Behalf 
> Of brett lentz
> Sent: Monday 01 September 2008 23:38
> To: Development list for Rails: an 18xx game
> Subject: [Rails-devel] Starting on a client/server
> 
> I just wanted to send a quick update to the list on new developments.
> 
> I've decided to get started on a client/server version of Rails. It's
> been far too long since I actively wrote code, and I feel like I
> should be more actively developing Rails.
> 
> I've been giving it some thought, and I think the best approach is to
> write a new architecture (mostly) from the ground up, rather than
> migrating our existing code into a client/server paradigm.
> 
> There are several reasons why I want to incorporate refactoring the
> code into adding such a major new feature. One of the primary reasons
> is that it will give me a chance to revisit the UI, the hex drawing
> code, and many other areas of the codebase, and look at these things
> with a fresh perspective. It's also a chance to clean up and organize
> the code in ways that are difficult currently.
> 
> One thing that I want to make perfectly clear. I'm absolutely not
> throwing out our existing code.
> 
> What I _am_ doing is starting from a new, empty project directory on
> my workstation, writing a basic client and server, then slowly moving
> our existing code in, one piece at a time. During this process, I'll
> be cleaning up many areas of the code, and rewriting a couple of
> things from scratch.
> 
> As soon as I have a basic framework, I'll publish a new module into
> CVS so that everyone can jump in and help get network play fully
> functioning.
> 
> 
> ---Brett.
> 
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