Server Set Up Guides: Can we do better?

[c0ncrete]

Originally Posted by Drajor

Thank you. So assuming I went forward with the idea, the guide would need to be split in two+ for some parts. I assume that a lot of the DB related information would be platform agnostic.

not necessarily. especially given the fact that there are several different ways to create a database and source in data. command line, different utilities (which may or not be available on a given platform), etc.

as an aside, i hope you haven't taken anything i've said the wrong way. i'm all for your idea. i suppose i'm just a bit jaded. in general, it seems that the easier you make something like this for someone, the less drive they have to figure out how things work and why... and if they don't have this basic understanding, they end up doing something wrong and have to ask. then, do you add something else to your documentation or do you politely suggest they read the fine manual?

some examples of this would be the countless quest scripts that use multiple if statements instead of if/elsif/else chains. i've also seen some people say that if/elsif statements won't work without a default else block (not true at all). returning items inside of a conditional, so that all unused items are eaten if one of the conditions is met is also a big issue. as is copying and pasting similar snippets of code multiple times instead of using a short loop.

none of this is really related to the emulator itself, but a lack of understanding of the language used for scripting. regardless, some of them are documented in the forums or the wiki... and some of them are wrong, but some of them are style choices (like how to manage your database - i use the cli or mysql workbench).

ok, i'm done venting now.

[Drajor]

Originally Posted by c0ncrete

not necessarily. especially given the fact that there are several different ways to create a database and source in data. command line, different utilities (which may or not be available on a given platform), etc.

as an aside, i hope you haven't taken anything i've said the wrong way. i'm all for your idea. i suppose i'm just a bit jaded. in general, it seems that the easier you make something like this for someone, the less drive they have to figure out how things work and why... and if they don't have this basic understanding, they end up doing something wrong and have to ask. then, do you add something else to your documentation or do you politely suggest they read the fine manual?

some examples of this would be the countless quest scripts that use multiple if statements instead of if/elsif/else chains. i've also seen some people say that if/elsif statements won't work without a default else block (not true at all). returning items inside of a conditional, so that all unused items are eaten if one of the conditions is met is also a big issue. as is copying and pasting similar snippets of code multiple times instead of using a short loop.

none of this is really related to the emulator itself, but a lack of understanding of the language used for scripting. regardless, some of them are documented in the forums or the wiki... and some of them are wrong, but some of them are style choices (like how to manage your database - i use the cli or mysql workbench).

ok, i'm done venting now.

Did I take it the wrong way? Yes :p I look at your post count, then at mine and wonder if I would be jaded too heh.

In regards to making things easy and a persons drive to understand how things work etc. I think thats a hard one. For me I would love to lower any barriers to entry for server development. We may end up with more posts with scripting issues as you suggest.

[c0ncrete]

Originally Posted by Drajor

Did I take it the wrong way? Yes :p I look at your post count, then at mine and wonder if I would be jaded too heh.

In regards to making things easy and a persons drive to understand how things work etc. I think thats a hard one. For me I would love to lower any barriers to entry for server development. We may end up with more posts with scripting issues as you suggest.

i'm not claiming to know everything about perl or the quest interfaces. i never stop learning and i absolutely love it.

sometimes i have no problem with telling someone they are doing it wrong, even if it's working. others, i just let it slide as it's not worth the headache... but then i can't help but feel responsible when they teach someone else how to do it wrong.

[wolfwalkereci]

Do something on the wiki or its going to fail.