--- Michael Barton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Anyway, does anyone have any arguments for (or against) the > > converting to XML for Rom files? What about XML over a Database? > > And any tips for performing such a conversion? > > For XML: > Simple compatibility with other environments > (players could, say, be loaded in php and viewed in a web page). > easy expandability (compared to stock area and player files) > expat is already on most systems and can be linked in to parse xml. > You can get rid of stupid ~ smashing :)
All these can be done with a database also. Plus an SQL database provides easy reporting and mass operations that XML wouldn't really. > Against XML: > I can't really think of any, other than time to convert the code. Most XML parsers are not very fast (though this isn't usually a consideration for muds) > One thing Databases allow for are faster bulk operations compared to XML, > like finding out how many warriors there are on your mud, or stripping an > item from every player. Agreed. See above. IMO XML is very useful for communicating data in a relational and easily processed format. It is not so good for data storage, particularly when you consider size overhead for the structure itself, and performace as compared to an SQL database. I would say that if you wanted to create a platform which allowed players to migrate from one server to another XML would be key to sending the data back and forth. But ultimately I would recommend that it be stored in some relational database with an SQL interface. Also many of the databases provide ways to export the data in an XML format. ~Kender ===== -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version 3.1 GCS/L/C/O d-(+) s++: a-- C+++$>++++ UBLS++++$ P+++(--)$ L+++>++++ E--- W+>++$ N !o K? w(--) !O M- !V PS+ PE(++) Y+ PGP->+ t+ 5 X+() R(+) tv+@ b++(+++) !DI+++ D G(-) e>+++$ h---() r+++ y+++ ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------ __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com
