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A Minecraft server written in COBOL

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Re: A Minecraft server written in COBOL

#31

Post by burnhamup »

navbaker wrote: post #28

My kids are just getting into Minecraft on the switch and I am a bit confused by the options for hosting a server. I’d love to hop on and play with them on a self-hosted server, what’s the current best way to do that or is that level of cross-play between PC and Switch on a self-hosted solution even possible? Edit: I don’t currently play, which is why I’m not familiar with what’s out there

I think options are limited from the switch. You can't connect to arbitrary servers from the console version - just some curated public servers or by paying for Realms. You can hack around this with a DNS server that redirects the curated servers, but starts to get sketchy.

You also need the paid switch online for any sort of network play.

Re: A Minecraft server written in COBOL

#32

Post by Tade0 »

Koshkin wrote: post #26
owenthejumper wrote: post #22

Roast me but the code is very readable. Compare with some modern languages where you have to stare at it for minutes to understand what's going on.

That’s why I like Ada (and VHDL). Somewhat verbose, perhaps, but much more readable than more “modern” languages.

As a teenager I swore by Turbo Pascal's begin/end syntax and C++ at the time, with its overloads and macro system was just noise to me.

Many years have passed since but C++ with its overloads and macro system is still largely noise to me.

Re: A Minecraft server written in COBOL

#33

Post by jezzamon »

navbaker wrote: post #28

My kids are just getting into Minecraft on the switch and I am a bit confused by the options for hosting a server. I’d love to hop on and play with them on a self-hosted server, what’s the current best way to do that or is that level of cross-play between PC and Switch on a self-hosted solution even possible? Edit: I don’t currently play, which is why I’m not familiar with what’s out there

Cross-play between the PC "Java" edition and the console "Bedrock" edition is not really possible, so the best option is to play it on Bedrock on both platforms. On Windows you can download the Bedrock edition and play it there, it seems technically possible but a little complicated to play Bedrock edition on Mac / Linux too. (Some Google searching suggests you'll need to run it in a VM on those OSs)

Easiest way to get a server is to pay Minecraft (Microsoft) to host it for you via realms: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/realms

But self hosting is supported too, there are official server binaries you can download from Minecraft here: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server/bedrock

Re: A Minecraft server written in COBOL

#34

Post by jdboyd »

doikor wrote: post #30
navbaker wrote: post #28

My kids are just getting into Minecraft on the switch and I am a bit confused by the options for hosting a server. I’d love to hop on and play with them on a self-hosted server, what’s the current best way to do that or is that level of cross-play between PC and Switch on a self-hosted solution even possible? Edit: I don’t currently play, which is why I’m not familiar with what’s out there

You have to play the Java version on pc to connect to your own server software.

That is incorrect. There are several bedrock compatible servers available. See the official one here: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server/bedrock

Re: A Minecraft server written in COBOL

#35

Post by curious_cat_163 »

I learned a bit of COBOL during high school... in a small town in Pakistan.

It was okay -- did a project that simulated some financial statements. I recall it being quirky but, to most humans (i.e. non-programmers), any programming language would be quite quirky so I don't understand the stigma around it.

I also learned C around the same time and that one stuck. :-)

Re: A Minecraft server written in COBOL

#36

Post by elcapitan »

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #12

I'm always hearing that Cobol programmers get high salaries, because they are so rare. Did this project generate any flood of offers for work?

As others have pointed out, probably more the intricacies of the existing business logic, plus the understanding of the mainframe systems that it usually runs on. Otherwise you could just build a cross compiler and call it day.

Re: A Minecraft server written in COBOL

#37

Post by ObscureScience »

jezzamon wrote: post #33
navbaker wrote: post #28

My kids are just getting into Minecraft on the switch and I am a bit confused by the options for hosting a server. I’d love to hop on and play with them on a self-hosted server, what’s the current best way to do that or is that level of cross-play between PC and Switch on a self-hosted solution even possible? Edit: I don’t currently play, which is why I’m not familiar with what’s out there

Cross-play between the PC "Java" edition and the console "Bedrock" edition is not really possible, so the best option is to play it on Bedrock on both platforms. On Windows you can download the Bedrock edition and play it there, it seems technically possible but a little complicated to play Bedrock edition on Mac / Linux too. (Some Google searching suggests you'll need to run it in a VM on those OSs) Easiest way to g…

There are actually cross play solutions such as https://github.com/GeyserMC/Geyser, there are some limitation, but not too many. Basically disabling the features that only exists in one version.

Re: A Minecraft server written in COBOL

#38

Post by s2l »

navbaker wrote: post #28

My kids are just getting into Minecraft on the switch and I am a bit confused by the options for hosting a server. I’d love to hop on and play with them on a self-hosted server, what’s the current best way to do that or is that level of cross-play between PC and Switch on a self-hosted solution even possible? Edit: I don’t currently play, which is why I’m not familiar with what’s out there

Check out minetest open source too, which is similar but separate game like minecraft. You can self-host the server.

Re: A Minecraft server written in COBOL

#39

Post by SushiHippie »

chrisdalke wrote: post #29
navbaker wrote: post #28

My kids are just getting into Minecraft on the switch and I am a bit confused by the options for hosting a server. I’d love to hop on and play with them on a self-hosted server, what’s the current best way to do that or is that level of cross-play between PC and Switch on a self-hosted solution even possible? Edit: I don’t currently play, which is why I’m not familiar with what’s out there

There's actually two completely separate games (Java edition and Bedrock) that can't cross-play with each other. You can buy a Bedrock edition Minecraft for Windows that should be able to cross-play with the switch. Java Edition is the original game and it's fairly easy to either host your own server (The dedicated server is just a .jar you run) or pay for a server ($10-40/mo) using a game server host. Unsure about b…

FWIW with the Java version you can easily create a LAN Server in game, by joining a world and then opening it to LAN.

https://help.minecraft.net/hc/en-us/articles/4410317081741-H...

EDIT: I just realized this works on Bedrock too, but don't know how the support on the Switch is

https://help.minecraft.net/hc/en-us/articles/4410316619533-H...

Re: A Minecraft server written in COBOL

#40

Post by TypingOutBugs »

z3t4 wrote: post #19
FrustratedMonky wrote: post #12

I'm always hearing that Cobol programmers get high salaries, because they are so rare. Did this project generate any flood of offers for work?

It's not Cobol programmers that are rare, it's a shortage of people that can understand the business logic. Cobol is often used in very complicated business operations.

Not because it’s necessarily more suited for those business operations, but the complexity and risk of refactoring means it remains in COBOL
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