[sugar] Ideas about SimCity gui, turtle graphics, and cellular automata

[Don Hopkins]

> Don Hopkins wrote:
>   
>> SimCity in Python will be totally programmable in Python, so what should
>> we program it to do?  And how can we refactor it into general purpose,
>> reusable components?
>>     
>
> Will SimCity itself be implemented in Python, or will there just be some
> kind of scripting interface to SimCity?
>   
The idea is to preserve the original SimCity code (written in C) so it 
you can still play the original game, and expose it to Python through 
functions, variables, hooks and callbacks.
I might have to wrap the C code in a C++ class, so it's encapsulated and 
possible to have any number of the simulators running independently in 
memory at the same time, without using any global variables. (As 
distasteful as C++ is, it's good for a few things like encapsulating old 
C code!)
I'm planning on using SWIG to expose the SimCity interface to Python, so 
it will be possible to plug the same code into other scripting languages 
that SWIG supports as well (given some work with language-specific 
typemaps and convenience functions, etc).

> btw, Develop (or pieces of it) might provide the code editing
> functionality.  In fact, Develop (possibly not until gen2) might also
> provide a visual code editor (flow chart-ish, or similar)
>
>   
Over time, I'd like to document how the code works, and factor out parts 
of SimCity into modular functions that you can call from Python, which 
you can override in Python to do your own stuff before, after, or 
instead of the original C code. Then you can replace and instrument 
parts of the simulator in Python (like the traffic simulation, or the 
economic simulation), and plug in new features (like your own scripted 
disasters), but still have the original simulator there if you want to 
run the classic SimCity. Parts of it can be rewritten in Python so they 
act the same but they're general purpose and easy to reprogram by 
subclassing, like the monster, tornado, helicopter, etc. Then you could 
use a visual programming language to subclass them and customize their 
behavior.

> That is pretty cool!  However, it might be desirable to leave in classic
> SimCity mouse-based editing as an option, in case someone wants to build
> a large map by hand with the mouse.
>   
Absolutely: it's important to always support the original SimCity user 
interface and behavior!
I want to enable extensions through optional plug-ins, hooks (extension 
points, like "aspect oriented programming") and subclassing, and 
preserve the original behavior and interface, while cleaning up and 
modularizing the code.

    -Don

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