[MUD-Dev] Questions about server design

[Ben Chambers]

First question, is about the new java.nio classes introduced in
version 1.4.  I've seen a lot of information using them as simple
echo servers, but not much on expanding that to something like a
chat server or beyond.  What would be the best way of handling this?
It seems from what i've read that you can't write until you're done
reading.  This would suggest some form of queue, but it would get
costly to have that many messages in a queue for each person.  I was
thinking of some form of global queue, where each person has his or
her point in that, and every time you'd write it would advance your
spot, but that runs into some problems as well.  How would you
implement a non-blocking, possibly multithreaded in order to improve
response time, server?  If you did multi-thread it, how do you
handle communication between the threads?  What system do you use to
divide the incoming connections?

Second question, how plausible is XML as a format for MUD data files
as opposed to a SQL based database?  Would it be fast enough using
the java classes to parse it to create a XML based format for my MUD
data files instead of using SQL?  This idea appeals to me because it
makes it easier to write object oriented data files that take into
account inheritance and stuff, but I don't know if the load times
would be drastically reduced.

These questions may already have been discussed, but about 6 months
ago I stopped reading the list, so this is my first time back in a
while.  If it was previously discussed would you mind pointing me
towards the discussion threads in the archive so I can read them?
Thank you.

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