[Encore] Encore version 5 release ?

[Kevin Jepson]

Hi Barbara
That's cool!
I'm looking forward to wandering around in the new Vroma.
Are you using the stock V5 beta or is this an updated version?
I will check out the program editor for sure :-)
Ciao
KJ


  _____  

From: Barbara F. McManus [mailto:bmcman at optonline.net] 
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 9:41 PM
To: Kevin Jepson
Cc: encore at encore-consortium.org
Subject: Re: [Encore] Encore version 5 release ?


Kevin Jepson wrote:


Nice to see some emails on this list, it was getting lonely :-)

Hi, Kevin; let me start by saying that we are very grateful for the work you
do with the Barn (and for reminding us of the value of the MOO heritage)!



If anything is slowing the adoption of V5 amongst existing enCore worlds I
think it is that the code changes needed to  migrate an enCore 3 or 4 MOO,
with any amount of object/code customization, are just too labour intensive.

<snip>

Are there any V5 MOOs out there open for business, so to speak?
 
Is anybody collecting the stats on what kinds of issues people are having
and how they are being solved?
 
I would be happy put a link to that info at the Barn for people to read
while they evaluate making such a big change.

VRoma will soon be a open as a fully fledged v5 MOO, and at some point I
would be willing to write about the process.  Yes, the change has been time
consuming, but I want to emphasize that I think it has been worth every
minute.  Here's an analogy.  I learned to write HTML code in the late 90's
and produced many websites with good, clean HTML 3-4.0 code.  But, as Daniel
Jung pointed out to me in the nicest possible way, I have not kept up with
the changes--I needed to learn integrated XHTML and CSS. So I bought a book
(actually 3) and redesigned the entire VRoma website using these modern
standards (the updated VRoma website will be online soon as well).  In the
process I realized how much better this way of doing things is.  Yes, it
took some time, but I have produced something better, which is up to date
and meets current standards, and I have learned a lot while doing it.  

Multiply that fivefold, and you will understand how I feel about the v5
VRoma.  Until you muck around in the innards of v5 you will not fully
appreciate the improvements.  As a programmer, Kevin, you would really
appreciate the new Program Editor.  Even for a non-trained programmer like
me, this is really amazing.  You can see at a glance all the inheritance
hierarchies; you can see which props are inherited from which parents, which
are set and which are clear.  You can click through tracebacks to see where
the errors occurred.  You can easily grep any word or phrase and immediately
click on the verb where it is found.  And that's just one tiny piece of the
improvements.  

End users will see it in the interface and in objects like bots.  The new
player-bot is much closer to a real player, and the patterns even work, so
the bot hardly ever produces gobbledygook.  And editing the bot's dialogue
and keywords is a breeze.  When editing any type of object, with the click
of a button you can determine whether the MOO will autoformat its web
appearance or whether you will control it by entering your own code.  And
the housekeeper will now sweep the MOO and return purloined objects to their
rightful places.  

The improvements are well worth the time spent upgrading, and the actual
process of upgrading is a wonderful learning experience.  So, no, I do not
think that it is "too labour intensive," and I encourage others to try it.
Best, Barbara

-- 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Barbara F. McManus, Professor of Classics Emerita

The College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY 10805

Co-Director, The VRoma Project

 <mailto:bmcman at optonline.net> <bmcman at optonline.net> or
<mailto:bmcmanus at cnr.edu> <bmcmanus at cnr.edu>

http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/

http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/
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