Programming

Blossom-Server.com is up and running. If you're a flash developer who's been wanting to make a multiplayer game, go check it out.

Ah queries, you used to be so easy.

A good non-blocking server never stops for anything. A program must stop to do a database query, though. The solution Blossom Server uses is to run two servers at once. One server is responsible for handling all the comings and goings of information in the speediest way possible, and the other server does nothing but take care of the slow and painful database queries. The two servers can talk to each other, and together they essentially act like ...

Jiggy Chat is in production, using Blossom Server and the fancy UI I talked about in the last entry.

If you create a chat room, you become the master of that chat room. What rules you impose and who you allow in is up to you. Room masters can silence people to prevent them from posting, or they can kick them out of the room entirely.

The general idea is to try to avoid needing moderators to keep the peace all the time. I fear they're overworked.

Oooobviously ...

Flash has these built in UI components that are pretty handy. (Scroll bars, buttons, dropdown menus, etc) I decided to program my own button to try to simplify the process of having something happen when that button is clicked. I seem to have gotten a bit carried away though, and have now programmed my own scroll bar, dropdown combo box, text input, text field, and check box.

Remaking things that already exist is kind of pointless, but they're pretty cool lookin'

One of the core features of Blossom Server is the ability to store any kind of info on your account. When you log out, that info is saved in a database. When you log back in, that info is loaded back into Blossom Server to be actively used again. Grouping everything together like that helps keep things super simple. Kinda wish I thought of it sooner. :p

The problemo is how to actually do database queries from a socket server. A socket server should never stop for anything, but programs ...