the adventure

[matonet]

I'm wondering if anyone knows whatever happened to the Java program "The Adventure" written by Jo Grant. It can be located at the CORE website - http://111george.com/core/home_en.htm.

I liked it because I could play Traveller 'solo' and do a bit of speculative trade, but the program is very buggy and freezes up after a while - usually casting me adrift in deep space.

I guess I'm asking whether anyone knows whether Jo is working on a better version or if someone with a bit of Java programming knowledge would know how to fix the program?

[Flynn]

I've looked at the site, and it doesn't look like he ever made his code open-source or available. Otherwise, it might be an interesting experiment to tackle.

If you ever get the code base, I'd be interested in looking at it,
Flynn

[kaladorn]

Sure, if the source can be made available.

It might well be worth a look through. There ought to be some programming talent lurking around here. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[matonet]

Originally posted by Flynn:
I've looked at the site, and it doesn't look like he ever made his code open-source or available. Otherwise, it might be an interesting experiment to tackle.

If you ever get the code base, I'd be interested in looking at it,
Flynn

I've got a copy of the code (just downloaded from source - Save Target As...) and had a look at it in Borland Java Builder but cannot make heads nor tails of it (my programming is limited to BASIC BTW).

By saving the game webpage to my hard drive and downloading The Adventure from the source (Save Target As...) I can run it straight from my computer without having to wait for it to download every time. It is still *buggy* using this method though.

If you'd like a copy, send me your e-mail address and I'll send it.

[vutpakdi]

Originally posted by matonet:
I've got a copy of the code (just downloaded from source - Save Target As...) and had a look at it in Borland Java Builder but cannot make heads nor tails of it (my programming is limited to BASIC BTW).

By saving the game webpage to my hard drive and downloading The Adventure from the source (Save Target As...) I can run it straight from my computer without having to wait for it to download every time. It is still *buggy* using this method though.

If you'd like a copy, send me your e-mail address and I'll send it.

Did you download the bytecode jar or do you have a copy of the source jar? If it's the one on the webpage that I saw, then it's probably just the bytecode jar file. JBuilder (and other IDEs) can decompile the bytecode, but I'm not entirely sure what you end up with. I'm pretty sure that you'd not have any comments at the least. The variable names and general structure should be there, but you'd also probably not have the indenting that makes something readable (not a problem with source formatting though).

Whether or not doing something like that and modifying the code without permission is acceptable/legal is a completely different matter. Better, I think, to get permission or the source released as open source.

Ron

[vutpakdi]

I can't seem to get the program to run under Java 1.4.2

Oh well....

Ron

[Flynn]

All I found when looking around was the .jar file, which contains the compiled classes. Using my JBuilder IDE, all I really get when I look at that is the interface, no code. I suppose I could decompile it, but that always results in generally unreadable code.

I'll just have to wait, I guess,
Flynn

[kaladorn]

I don't know. Maybe you're not using one of the better decompilers. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Of course, it depends a bit on how self-documenting the original code was. If it was, you can often recover an amazing amount.

I say this, having been part of a small team that wrote a java app, then wanted to secure it using obfuscators and who came to the conclusion the only good defense against decompilation was to use a Java to Native compiler. Even then, you aren't safe, but multiple-pass optimized native code is nastier to decompile cleanly than any jar file.

And yes, then there are the legalities... and the moralities...

It would be nice to get such things into open source though.

[TheEngineer]

Hi !

Try to let it run in a JDK 1.1 environment...
Guess there are some compiler changes regarding the 64k method size.

regards,

Mert

[matonet]

Originally posted by Ron Vutpakdi:
Did you download the bytecode jar or do you have a copy of the source jar? If it's the one on the webpage that I saw, then it's probably just the bytecode jar file. JBuilder (and other IDEs) can decompile the bytecode, but I'm not entirely sure what you end up with. I'm pretty sure that you'd not have any comments at the least. The variable names and general structure should be there, but you'd also probably not have the indenting that makes something readable (not a problem with source formatting though).

Whether or not doing something like that and modifying the code without permission is acceptable/legal is a completely different matter. Better, I think, to get permission or the source released as open source.

Ron

Apologies for not getting back to the forum sonner, I was unsure how much interest this post would generate.
i. the code came up alright in Borland, it was decipherable, but I'm unfamiliar with the format of Java so naturally I'm a bit lost....
ii. regarding the code, again, I'm a luddite when it comes to creating my own libraries etc.
iii. regarding permission - I've tried to contact Jo, but with no luck (old e-mail address?). I agree with the concept of contacting the original author before you start playing around with something. However, if a program is *buggy* can you *debug* it and keep it for personal use (non distribution)? I think that is within the law. My problem is taht I'm so stoked about this little application that I'm hoping Jo Grant will stumble across this thread and help us out!