So before I get started, I just want to put out there that the latest integration build of DartEditor has been released, and you should pick it up here. This build contains the latest IDE, the SDK and now Dartium as well! For those of you running 64-bit systems, it is a 32-bit build of Chromium so you may encounter some library errors if you have not installed the extra components you need.
So now that that news is out of the way.. a little progress report on my Dart MUD. (I may need to come up with a better development name, as it conflicts with the already existing MUD: Dartmud.com) So far I have a minimal server, from which I've managed to remove most unnecessary code from and make the mudlib independent of the server. I have a generic MudLib object which handles most interactions between server and specific mudlib components. A User object which handles the client connections and various user properties (username, passwords, etc). However I'm not completely happy having the socket implementation directly part of the User object, and may break down into a connection object which the User class will either have it as a property, or may inherit from (just because someone connects, doesn't mean it will result in a User on the system).
After some playing around with a static class which contained the various commands a player can execute, I decided to instead create a small class, and each command is an instance of the class. All of which are managed by a CommandDaemon/Command Manager. I can see this allowing for more flexibility in adding commands globally and perhaps even in just specific rooms or objects. On the note of Rooms and GameObjects, I have classes for these also implemented, as well as a 'container' interface and a factory class for it. Users and Rooms both currently extend the factory class for the container.
At this point, I've added a few 'commands', including the exit and shutdown commands from the EchoServer (though now setup to be used with the Command Manager I have implemented). I've also added a basic 'look', 'broadcast' and 'help' command, and am in the process of fleshing out these respective commands so they properly handle any arguments sent to them (broadcast works to notify all users, regardless of if they are in the same room as the person issuing the commands.
I still have so much to do. Currently when connecting you are prompted for a username/password to log in. However you can enter anything an be granted access with the username you enter. I need to be able to create a new user, to save the user, and to load them when logging in. Also I have a very basic room, but only the one. I still have to create more rooms and implement travel commands to move between rooms. To say nothing of the other normal things you would expect on a mud including equipment, objects, money, combat, etc etc etc.
While I still have a very long way to go to make a basic mud, I'm quite pleased with the progress I have been making towards that end. Something I may want to look towards as well is some type of 'reload' or 'refresh' command, as I have to shutdown the server and restart it after each change I make. I'll also need to work on a memory management daemon of some kind too, so that once the mud gets to a decent size, objects will only be loaded/created when accessed, and after a period of time, removed if not used or near an active player.
One of these days I'm going to make an effort to learn git/git hub too.
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