Modular functions

ID:136621
 
Jul 15 2002, 6:38 pm
There are utility snippets that I often find myself referring to. For example:

proc/round_nearest(num)
return(round(num,1))

proc/round_down(num)
return(round(num))

proc/round_up(num)
return(round(num) == num ? num : round(num)+1)


In the far future (definitely not necessary yet!), maybe there could be some way that BYOND could utilise third-party DLLs in the project folder (much like it uses shell() now, with equivalent security) to provide speedier calculations?


For example, when a Visual Basic programmer wants to get a particular part of his/her code running faster, he/she uses a different language to generate a machine-code version, which the Visual Basic code then utilises. Since it's run via machine code rather than via the interpretter, it's a lot faster.

Since it's risky to run third-party DLLs, they'd be subject to the same security restrictions as the rest of the world.


There'd have to be a lot of intermediate stuff, including a utility library that would handle the data conversion, which is why it'd be a far future consideration, if it was a consideration at all.
Jul 15 2002, 8:19 pm
Spuzzum wrote:
There are utility snippets that I often find myself referring to. For example:

proc/round_nearest(num)
return(round(num,1))

proc/round_down(num)
return(round(num))

proc/round_up(num)
return(round(num) == num ? num : round(num)+1)


In the far future (definitely not necessary yet!), maybe there could be some way that BYOND could utilise third-party DLLs in the project folder (much like it uses shell() now, with equivalent security) to provide speedier calculations?


For example, when a Visual Basic programmer wants to get a particular part of his/her code running faster, he/she uses a different language to generate a machine-code version, which the Visual Basic code then utilises. Since it's run via machine code rather than via the interpretter, it's a lot faster.

Since it's risky to run third-party DLLs, they'd be subject to the same security restrictions as the rest of the world.


There'd have to be a lot of intermediate stuff, including a utility library that would handle the data conversion, which is why it'd be a far future consideration, if it was a consideration at all.

I believe this is something BYOND definantly needs. Most if not all Modern Languages allows support for this, from what I have used at least. It will definantly allow some of us programers to break alot of barriers in BYOND and expand the language to make more things possible. Its really not needed immediatly, but the sooner this kind of thing is added the sooner you will see much greater things in BYOND with alot less lag. For example, Strong and fast encryption algorythms, Isometric or even 3d support, and it might help Dantom in the long run by allowing the community to expand in the hard-coded department. I would not recommend this for being added right away, Spuzzum makes good points in his post, Right now I'd rather just have more control over the client interface(Dream Seeker) so that our games can look more professional. All that hard work on Dantom's side would be to much for all at once, but they should put future thought on it.
Jul 21 2002, 2:14 am
In the far future (definitely not necessary yet!), maybe there could be some way that BYOND could utilise third-party DLLs in the project folder (much like it uses shell() now, with equivalent security) to provide speedier calculations?

I could be completely wrong about this, but I suspect that calculations are rarely the bottleneck in DM code. That's not to say that DLL's couldn't be useful for a number of things, though.