Back in 1994 I learned coding on a multi-user dungeon (MUD) using the LPC language. The MUD consisted of a large amount of objects, like rooms, monsters, and equipment. Each object could interact with any other object. For example: "/home/xordin/counter"->add(1) This calls add() on my personal counter. If the counter object wasn't loaded, LPC would create it! Seamsless integration between all objects or "programs". On Unix or Windows, communications between programs are much more complicated. Try creating a personal counter using Visual Basic and COM... On LPC, it simply worked.
You could change the code, reload it, and other objects had instant access to your new function. All the while, on the MUD, players were playing: simultaneously.
The performance of LPC was also amazing. It compiled LPC code into a symbolic intermediate level, which executed very fast. A not very special 1994 PC could handle over 120 players. Because only the small number of symbols are executed, a MUD can be debugged very well and is extremely stable.
To top it off, LPC is very powerful. It has arrays, mappings, inheritance. String management is wonderful: manipulate strings as in C, with automatic memory management. Unlike C++/Java's insanely complex syntax, everyone could learn LPC. It was so easy it did not even require a debugger.
Now, C# promises exactly the same features that made LPC rock:
all programs/objects can cooperate
simulataneous use and development
stable and fast
solve complex problems without insane syntactic complexity If C# makes true on these promises, I for one will embrace it.
P.S. There seems to be a web server called Roxen which employs LPC, but I haven't gotten it to compile yet.
You mention Europe and Asia as if they were paradises of freedom. But what do you think will happen if a small software company in Korea displeases a big conglomerate?
Businessmen are pigs everywhere, and when there's big money to be made the big pigs will win. - they sue you in court - they threaten to withheld other services from your clients - they buy way your best workers - they use their government relations to obstruct you
Money corrupts, and big money corrupts absolutely.
Most people simply won't be bothered with details so all they want to hear is good news. Even if it's lying to yourself, it's better than the alternatives: reading HOWTO's, spending time experimenting, and actually admitting to yourself you haven't got a clue.
Microsoft is doing them a service by providing only news they want to hear. (Write HTML without knowing it! Use WordProcessors with ease! Simple database management! etc. etc.) Only people who look further than the surface can see Microsoft isn't living up to those expectations.
People who care about computers use Unix. Hopefully their number will grow.
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You could change the code, reload it, and other objects had instant access to your new function.
All the while, on the MUD, players were playing: simultaneously.
The performance of LPC was also amazing. It compiled LPC code into a symbolic intermediate level, which executed very fast. A not very special 1994 PC could handle over 120 players. Because only the small number of symbols are executed, a MUD can be debugged very well and is extremely stable.
To top it off, LPC is very powerful. It has arrays, mappings, inheritance. String management is wonderful: manipulate strings as in C, with automatic memory management. Unlike C++/Java's insanely complex syntax, everyone could learn LPC. It was so easy it did not even require a debugger.
Now, C# promises exactly the same features that made LPC rock:
all programs/objects can cooperate
simulataneous use and development
stable and fast
solve complex problems without insane syntactic complexity
If C# makes true on these promises, I for one will embrace it.
P.S. There seems to be a web server called Roxen which employs LPC, but I haven't gotten it to compile yet.
You mention Europe and Asia as if they were paradises of freedom. But what do you think will happen if a small software company in Korea displeases a big conglomerate?
Businessmen are pigs everywhere, and when there's big money to be made the big pigs will win.
- they sue you in court
- they threaten to withheld other services from your clients
- they buy way your best workers
- they use their government relations to obstruct you
Money corrupts, and big money corrupts absolutely.
Most people simply won't be bothered with
details so all they want to hear is good
news. Even if it's lying to yourself, it's
better than the alternatives: reading HOWTO's,
spending time experimenting, and actually
admitting to yourself you haven't got a clue.
Microsoft is doing them a service by providing
only news they want to hear. (Write HTML
without knowing it! Use WordProcessors with
ease! Simple database management! etc. etc.)
Only people who look further than the surface
can see Microsoft isn't living up to those
expectations.
People who care about computers use Unix.
Hopefully their number will grow.
RedHat isn't worth so much because of
their operating system. Everyone can
distribute Linux.
RedHat opened a large market for Linux.
They made it popular.
And making things popular is what is
worth money-- not writing good software.