This information isn't ready for the wider world yet, I'd appreciate it if you kept this news within our circle.
I've been working on a project similar to ULib that I've been calling OTLib. At it's essence, I've basically taken everything I've learned from ULib and ULX and started anew. I've tried to take any good points about ULib and ULX and expand upon them while redesigning anything I was previously unhappy with.
Even my goals for the project are different. While I've attempted to toe the "simplicity" line as much as I felt I could with ULib and ULX, OTLib was designed with the goal of being
shrink-wrapped software, software that I could show a company on a future résumé and explain why working on OTLib qualifies me to work on a startup project. OTLib also isn't aimed at garrysmod specifically. It's more of an admin engine, written directly for native Lua that's easy to make a module for a game engine (IE gmod) for. Writing it in native Lua has really been great, since I'm no longer forced to fire up gmod every time I make a small tweak to test it out. Instead, I just use the command line. It's also got a test suite to check if changes broke anything even faster.
At this point, I'd say OTLib is about 40% done (that's the core engine, no gmod specific stuff like slapping, slaying, dancing). Almost all necessary utility functions are in at this point, I think, and it's got a strong access system and a nifty data storage system. The access system is very similar to the way ULib SVN is done, but a lot more flexible and straight-forward (as I said, I'm learning
). The data storage system will allow us to seamlessly save to MySQL, SQLite, or flatfiles and convert between the formats.
When I first started OTLib I intended to break it off from Ulysses and do it under a new name (Nayruden). I'm thinking that's a mistake now though, as we've really built up a great community here that would be a shame to lose... and
overnight success takes years. People trust our names and recognize the experience behind them.
The current documentation for OTLib can be viewed
here (check up on the access system and the data system!) and the source can be viewed/downloaded
here.
Anyways, to bring this wall of text to a close, I'm interested in y'all's opinions on this. Maybe this sheds a little light on why I've been throwing a lot of ideas around lately. Maybe JamminR will understand why I'm interested in pushing JSON for flatfiles instead of Garry's format.
