Does Lost Logic''s book cover non-blocking or asyncronus sockets at all? I ordered the book, but it hasn''t arrived yet, and I heard that it doesn''t. I dont really care for directplay, I bought the book for the sockets text, but whats the point in convering sockets for an mmorpg if you dont cover some form of non-blocking sockets? I could be wrong, no clue. If someone could tell me I''de appreciate it. - torquel

If that is all you want it for then you may want to cancel the order. I do not cover non-blocking sockets. The UDP portion of code is covered in the DPlay portion.


LostLogic
www.lostlogic.com
Author, Multiplayer Game Programming

Out of curiousity how come you didn''t cover it? Wouldn''t have required that much additional text. I just wanted to know because I like having the possibility of running a server on multiple operating systems. All and all though I think it''ll be a good buy. Do any MMORPGS use dplay at all? Your book seems to target that rather then sockets, but I thought most MMORPGS use sockets? Just a little confused, I''m not going to cancel the book though. Regardless it will have great content on the dplay stuff, and I heard your windows programming section rocks to.

- torquel

Prima Publishing likes for their books to stand on their own "two feet" so to speak; therefore, I had to cover everything from sound to graphics to networking. In doing so I was also asked to cover both sockets and dplay. Given the nine months I had to write the book in, I just didnt have time to fully cover both. DPlay8 happens to be very cool, so I chose it for the large game examples.

I am working on an outline for an advanced revision of the book and it will indeed fully cover sockets (UDP, blocking, non-blocking, etc.) But dont expect to see that one out for quite some time, I am still working on an RTS book for Wordware that is due out around this time next year.

As far as cross-platform support goes.......I happen to code for both UNIX and NT at work. I use sockets for both (actually I use CORBA also.) But, in my game designs for MMORPG type games, I stick with Windows based machines. Its just a personal preference really, it depends on your particular needs. For example: I happen to like SQLServer 2000 for database storage and it works on Win2000. Many people wonder why not to use sockets for cross-platform ability. Well, the market for PC games is in Windows. Even PCs have a very small piece of the game market. So, with such a little piece to divy up, I stick with the larger portion (win). Then you have questions about how you would need sockets for the PS2 etc. That is true. This is why I present the lower levels of TCP/IP before diving into DPlay. As long as you have a concrete understaning of sockets, you should be able to use any API (CORBA, DPlay, WinSock, etc.) Once you understand sockets at a low level, then I suggest you make the decision on which API to use.

Its late, Im rambling, and probably not making much sense. Sorry if the message seems confusing.

Thanks for ordering it, I hope you enjoy it. You may be suprised at DPlay, since DX8 it is cool.

LostLogic
www.lostlogic.com
Author, Multiplayer Game Programming