# Minimal.DB

"Robert J. Brown" (rj@eli.wariat.org)
Wed, 15 Nov 1995 17:03:01 PST

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    >>>>> "Pascal" == C Regis Wilson <t_pascal@oxy.edu> writes:

        >> So I was once again hacking minimal.db, and I notice that I'm
        >> always starting with the same steps.  Why doesn't minimal.db
        >> consist of a single object, #0, which is a player and a
        >> programmer and a wizard, with a :do_login_command verb which
        >> returns #0?  I don't see any reason for minimal.db to contain a
        >> room or root parents at all.
        >>
        Pascal> The question is, "What is truly minimal?"  Some might
        Pascal> argue that LambdaCore is minimal.  Others posit that
        Pascal> ZenMOO (http://www.zennet.com/) is minimal, but which
        Pascal> version, since there are two?  Don't get me wrong, I agree
        Pascal> with you, but perhaps the core could be released with
        Pascal> several different "minimal" cores.  Shall we say that a
        Pascal> core under 1K is minimal?  Then, we could have in the
        Pascal> distribution:

        Pascal> minimal.db(old) sort_of_minimal.db mostly_minimal.db
        Pascal> the_latest_in_minimal_dbs.db

    I think the concept here was minimal in the mathematical sense of
    operators.  Such a minimal.db would have the smallest possible number
    of objects, and those objects would be as simple as possible, such
    that a virtual world with evolvable dynamic behaviour could be
    developed from that minimal.db without recourse to "external" means.

    --
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