Zugg Software :: View topic - Small feature request for upcoming Betas/Full versions...

Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 4:30 pm

It should be simple to code unless it's dealing with third party applications, but here is my wish...

Please, please, PLEASE allow a toggle to disable the 'help' in suggesting the full version of what you're typing in package editor. What do I mean?

Typing %null will have a little box pop up telling me that null is what I'm typing, essentially. I realize things like subchar, subregex and whatnot can be someone helpful, but there should be a toggle. I really do liken this help system to that of Microsoft's paperclip. Not to mention the most frustrating part about it this:

somevariable=%null

requires me to have to press enter twice in order to move on to the next line. The first enter "accepts" that what I wanted was %null indeed, even after it had been fully typed out, and the second enter is the new line enter.

Just something to think over. I would really appreciate this in the next version, though. I'm not sure if others feel the same way. Of course, if I have overlooked something, someone, please, point it out to me.

Thank you,
Charneus

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 5:48 pm

That's the code completion feature in the editor. The idea is that you only need to type %nu and then press Enter to select %null from the list. So it actually makes typing code faster when you get used to it.

I agree that the Scintilla editor code completion could be a bit smarter and not display the popup when you have already typed the entire function name already, but that's built into the Scintilla editor control and I can't control that part of it.

But I'll certainly add an option in the future so you can turn it off if you want.

But geez, it's *nothing* like the Microsoft paperclip (*shudder*).

Wizard Joined: 14 Oct 2000 Posts: 1368

Wizard Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 1551 Location: Australia

It looks like you're writing a letter!

It looks like you're writing a letter!

IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE WRITING A LETTER!!!

...

Actually, a long while ago we harassed Zugg into adding a "trigger wizard" feature to zMUD which would let us guru-esque folks implement a "next next next" type wizard to create a bunch of triggers for a user... so essentially, we were supposed to be making the paperclip for our MUDs. Of course, I think we all ended up being lazy or something... but that's not to say some motivated individual couldn't make a paperclip package and upload it to the CMUD package library.

I feel that these things are far too mud specific for Zugg to build it into CMUD's core code... for instance my MUD didn't support fishing but you could pick berries.

If you look at food, I've been on MUDs where you don't have to eat, I've been on others where it gives you a different message depending on how hungry you are (eg "You are hungry." or "You are starving."), but it can be expressed in other ways too - "Your stomach is rumbling."

And then the responses can all be different, one MUD may support the generic keyword "food". Another might make you type in "apple.pie" or whatever it is you have in your inventory.

Wizard Joined: 14 Oct 2000 Posts: 1368

Wizard Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2320

You're talking AI level interpretation. How is your paperclip supposed to know what hp is? All it knows is it is a two letter name associated with some value which appears to be a number. Do you want the paperclip to track everything you do that might be affecting every value in the prompt? Track every single line from the mud and every command to see if one freqently follows another? Analyze frequency and repetition of commands individually and in sets? And to avoid annoyance, keep track of every time the user declines to follow your suggestions? Even the Microsoft paperclip is more limited than that; it has a specific set of things it looks for.

Wizard Joined: 14 Oct 2000 Posts: 1368

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:06 pm

Did you guys know that the mapper uses an AI system to determine the room name, description, and exits from the MUD text? Yeah, look how well that works (or doesn't). Works great on certain MUDs, and not so great on others.

Look at how many MUDs even bother to implement the current MXP spec. They could be tagging all sorts of stuff already (including the room name, desc, and exits for the mapper). Only a handful do this. You can already define gauges for hp,mana,etc using MXP...only a few MUDs do it. Look at how many MUDs can't even do telnet negotiation, or send LF CR instead of the CR LF required by the Telnet standard.

Yes, it's fun to dream about the stuff Rorso is suggesting, but it will never happen. I would spend months implementing a system that would only work on a handful of MUDs.

As Vijilante mentioned, I already did the trigger wizard as an experiment to see if this kind of stuff would be used, and I've only had a handful of people complain that CMUD doesn't have it yet. I've got a *LOT* more important items on my to-do list for now.

Wizard Joined: 14 Oct 2000 Posts: 1368