Intermediate Code: Universal Format?
Randomly thinking out loud:
Shouldn't .NET's IL code be easy to preserve? (Intermediate Language, for those who don't know, is a processor independent set of instructions that is generated upon compile time. When the application's IL is actually run, a processor specific compiler is run, which converts the IL into processor specific machine code.)
Of course, this only works for game logic -- at some level, the rendering code is going to be graphics card/processor specific ...
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It should be easy to preserve. I think the only limiting factor there would be the ability to parse the bytecode by external/non-MS apps. Otherwise, it would seem that the whole thing will live and die by BillG.
Dustin
I think IL is an open standard. That is, any company can write compilers/parsers for IL.
It's rare for companies to try to copyright programming languages, because it hurts adoption of that language. (This holds for any standard: Remember BetaMax vs. VHS? Remember Mac vs. PC? Now everything is an open standard, created by various different companies: Look at DVD's, HD, etc.)
Rather, Microsoft intends to make money off of products created around and using the language: .NET, compilers, and even Windows itself.
(Heck, a lot of development inside of Microsoft now uses .NET, which in turn sits on IL, simply because it's much easier to use.)
Originally posted by JhinAlexander
Shouldn't .NET's IL code be easy to preserve?
I didn't know any old games were written in IL.
When the time comes to preserve games written in IL, it should be relatively easy since the emulator has already been written.
For the many game platforms that already have emulators, I don't see how IL would apply.
I guess we can say the sound is even more hardware-specific... badly.
Good thinking to put machine specific code apart from common one in a source should be systematic. Just the way we usually try to separate game engine code from game specific sources/data.