4 Ex-DB Design

The phrase “Ex-DB” refers to the idea that in MUD code, anything you can change from within the MUD, without having to reset it or something, is “In-DB”, as in “in the database”. By extension, anything that you cannot change from within the MUD is “Ex-DB”, or “out of the database”.

MOZ is very different from other MUDs. The server, as such, is nearly non-existent; it's just a tiny bootstrap module (see R2,see R7), plus a few accessory modules. This is because all things in Oz, including classes and objects, are first-class values. Even the the class of an object can be changed on the fly.

• The moz Program: The operations performed by the actual moz binary are detailed here.
• The new_moz Program: The operations performed by the new_moz binary are detailed here.
• The Parsing Module: Describes an accessory module used for arbitrary string parsing.
• The EnhancedString Module Describes an accessory module used for simple string processing (but less simple than the built-in String module).
• The Active Object Wrapper Objects in MOZ are 'active'. That is, there is a single thread for each object that deals with all aspects of that object. This section discusses details of the design of the active object wrapper that implements that behaviour.

It is very unlikely that any modifications to this code will be necessary. Any modifications to this code are likely to break everything.

• The MozCompilation Module Describes an accessory module used for easier access to the Oz compilation process

It is very unlikely that any modifications to this code will be necessary. Any modifications to this code are likely to break everything.

• Object References: Dealing with the active object wrapper directly is difficult, due to having to keep track of a seperate list of capabilities, so we wrap it in an Oz object.