Quote:Original post by Thevenin
However, if the computation speed growth of a C# List is O(n), this is probably a terrible idea, so before I go and implement it, I'm wondering if someone could tell me if C# does its lists as arrays, linked-lists, BSTs, etc.

A List<T> is implemented internally with an array. The array is created with some initial size (there's a constructor overload to specify it, IIRC), and when the list is filled to capacity, a new array is created that's twice as big as the old one, and the contents of the old copied to the new one.

In practice, this performs very well.

Quote:
Also, does it matter if I type safety it?

In general, a type safe generic list is always preferrable to a non-generic one.

Quote: Does it make a difference if it's value or reference typing?

I can't parse this.

Quote:Original post by Thevenin
I'm adding message logging to my MMORPG server. However, having each message get added to the database separately may be a bottleneck (dispite the fact that the database is locally accessible).

My idea right now is to store all the messages in a list (C# List), and then have the list unload into the database when the server goes down for its daily server-save.

However, if the computation speed growth of a C# List is O(n), this is probably a terrible idea, so before I go and implement it, I'm wondering if someone could tell me if C# does its lists as arrays, linked-lists, BSTs, etc.

Also, does it matter if I type safety it? Does it make a difference if it's value or reference typing?

since C# has bounds checking on all arrays the worst case scenario is probably O(n) (with jagged arrays).
the real issue however is memory footprints, you really want the array to fit into the cache if you intend to traverse it often enough to bother about it being O(n).

a LinkedList generally allows for faster operations (add/delete etc) but suffer from a much larger memory footprint which could result in far worse performance.

modern cpu:s are extremely fast but can loose around 80% of their performance simply by constantly needing data that isn't in the cache.

in what way is the log going to be used ?
if its viewable by admins and GMs only i would suggest throwing it into the DB as soon as the list reaches a predetermined size (since old data won't get accessed extremely often). your server should be multithreaded anyway and the DB server most definitly is so the game shouldn't freeze while you store data. by doing the storing when the list reaches a certain size you're able to control your cache and the query complexity.

if its viewable by players aswell (as a personal messagelog) i suggest you simply store a local copy at their computers (managed by the client) and simply discard it when they sign off. they can load a new size limited log from the server when they sign on. (last 100 messages for example)

Quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster
Don't bother saving log messages to a database. Use a text file instead.

I suggest saving messages in a List and then saving them to the text file every so often. You could try different frequencies and see which interval works best. But I really wouldn't worry too much about something like this. The overhead involved in writing to a file is minimal compared the overhead of the MMORPG itself.

it depends a bit on the nature of the log.

a system log used to find the cause of an unexpected crash for example should probably be sent to stderr by default.

the OS can then easily pipe it into a file if you want that.

chat message logs used to detect abusive players etc are better stored in a DB for easy access.