Author Topic: Some remarks about the raptornl design.  (Read 4494 times)

Offline Jove

  • Cadet
  • *
  • Posts: 6
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
Some remarks about the raptornl design.
« on: November 21, 2006, 12:18:43 pm »

Hi,

I took a quick look over the code in svn and have a few remarks I'd like to make.

I am not sure if you wish to use the raptornl code for both client and server, but I've seen a few things I have my doubts about regarding efficiency and scalability. First of all you use select() extensively in the code. This has a few distinct disadvantages:
  • You are limited to a fixed number of file descriptors (default for linux this is 1024, on windows this is 64)
  • You must manipulate fdsets even if only polling a single fd
Most of these are solved by using poll() on unix.
For windows it seems Completion Ports are the answer. I have no experience with these though.

From what I can see there is also no way to do any sort efficient input polling. The only way to know if any socket has data is to poll them all. This is only acceptable if you only have a few sockets.

Offline contingencyplan

  • Villain
  • Moderator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 977
  • Karma: +1/-0
  • Must I sin once, and repent forever?
    • View Profile
    • My Blog
Re: Some remarks about the raptornl design.
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2006, 04:54:53 am »
Interesting points. I haven't had a lot of time this semester to really learn socket programming to start RaptorNL off strong, so I can't reply specifically to the points you make. I'll look up the functions you reference during this thanksgiving break, though.

One thing to keep in mind is that the code we have, though we're refactoring it, is still 99% based off of HawkNL, which is a working networking library. Perhaps it has the same shortcomings, but I would think someone would have run into these problems in their own code and started talking about it.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2006, 06:00:42 am by contingencyplan »
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true. 
    ~Robert Wilensky

It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.
    ~GK Chesterton

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.
    ~Blaise Pascal

Offline Jove

  • Cadet
  • *
  • Posts: 6
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Some remarks about the raptornl design.
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2006, 07:45:10 am »

I am sure the HawkNL works, but is it used for servers too? Most of the things I mention are only important for the server side of the connection. As a client you won't need more than a few sockets... but the server will need the same amount of sockets per client.


Offline Morgul

  • GNE Founder
  • Godlike Fuzzy Dice
  • Grand Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 2086
  • Karma: +21/-4
  • Godlike Fuzzy Dice
    • View Profile
    • G33X Nexus Entertainment
Re: Some remarks about the raptornl design.
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2006, 04:14:03 pm »
HawkNL is actually used for both server and client applications. Now, I doubt it's been used as a MMORPG server, or anything super intense like that. I actually don't know how many large scale servers apps it has been used for; most only have one socket per client I would think, and have less than fifty clients at any one time, and are using tcp, so there this might have gone unnoticed for a while.
"Just because my math may tell lies doesn't mean that I don't understand the quantum mechanics of it all." --Caenus

The popular videogame "Doom" is based loosely around the time Satan borrowed two bucks from Vin Diesel and forgot to pay him back.

"In the beginning there was nothing. And it exploded." --Terry Pratchett

Offline contingencyplan

  • Villain
  • Moderator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 977
  • Karma: +1/-0
  • Must I sin once, and repent forever?
    • View Profile
    • My Blog
Re: Some remarks about the raptornl design.
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2006, 07:13:42 pm »
Hence why we're rewriting it, and definitely appreciate people like Jove pointing out flaws and shortcomings. :)
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true. 
    ~Robert Wilensky

It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.
    ~GK Chesterton

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.
    ~Blaise Pascal