CoolMUD
Encyclopedia
CoolMUD is a type of MUD
, and a descendant of MOO
. It is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users are connected at the same time. Created by Stephen White, also known by the handles "Ghondahrl" and "ghond", CoolMUD has many similarities to MOO, but pushes more functionality from the driver into the core (the portion written in the CoolMUD language itself) and has extra features for programming distributed objects. The project is currently managed by Robin Lee Powell.
The main differences between the programming language
s in MOO and CoolMUD include:
Unlike MOO, CoolMUD's object database is fully disk-based. Whereas MOO's implementation of persistence is based on periodic "checkpoints" during which the complete state of the server's object memory is written to disk, CoolMUD keeps the majority of the object database on disk and keeps a cache of the most frequently used objects in memory, a strategy known as incremental persistence. The CoolMUD implementation of the disk-based object memory is based on Marcus Ranum's
work from UnterMUD.
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
, and a descendant of MOO
MOO
A MOO is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users are connected at the same time.The term MOO is used in two distinct, but related, senses...
. It is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users are connected at the same time. Created by Stephen White, also known by the handles "Ghondahrl" and "ghond", CoolMUD has many similarities to MOO, but pushes more functionality from the driver into the core (the portion written in the CoolMUD language itself) and has extra features for programming distributed objects. The project is currently managed by Robin Lee Powell.
The main differences between the programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
s in MOO and CoolMUD include:
- Instance variables ("properties" in MOO) are all private and not externally visible. Methods ("verbs" in MOO) must be written to expose them. This is similar to early object-oriented programmingObject-oriented programmingObject-oriented programming is a programming paradigm using "objects" – data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions – to design applications and computer programs. Programming techniques may include features such as data abstraction,...
languages such as SmalltalkSmalltalkSmalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed, reflective programming language. Smalltalk was created as the language to underpin the "new world" of computing exemplified by "human–computer symbiosis." It was designed and created in part for educational use, more so for constructionist...
. - There are no builtin properties for owner and location like in MOO. This was done partly to simplify the language and partly to permit more versatile applications.
- There are no facilities for ownership of objects or code security, as strong encapsulation permits these facilities to be written in the CoolMUD language itself.
- Servers can choose to distribute their objects and use objects from distributed servers. Distributed objects can be referenced by putting an email-like address after the object number, for example: "#14@AnotherMUD".
Unlike MOO, CoolMUD's object database is fully disk-based. Whereas MOO's implementation of persistence is based on periodic "checkpoints" during which the complete state of the server's object memory is written to disk, CoolMUD keeps the majority of the object database on disk and keeps a cache of the most frequently used objects in memory, a strategy known as incremental persistence. The CoolMUD implementation of the disk-based object memory is based on Marcus Ranum's
Marcus J. Ranum
Marcus J. Ranum is a computer and network security researcher and industry leader. He is credited with a number of innovations in firewalls, including building the first Internet email server for the whitehouse.gov domain, and intrusion detection systems...
work from UnterMUD.