New-Coder 101:
 
You may know some of this stuff already, and if so, bear with me:
 
Basics for room coding:
Most rooms, both inside and out will use the following format:
 
#include "path.h"                (We discussed why this is used already)
inherit "/std/outside";          (The room in this example is outdoors)
 
void setup()                     (This tells the MUD "I want this room to
                                  operate using the following . . .")
   {set_short("Title of Room");  (This is what is displayed to players in
                                  brief mode - also when an immort uses the
                                  where player command)
    set_long("You are in blah blah blah "+
             "and can see such and such "+
             "and can do this and that.\n");
                                 (The '+' tells the mudlib to connect the
                                  quotes together as if they were one long
                                  quotation or string.  The '\n' tells the
                                  mudlib to hit return so that you don't
                                  end up with a prompt in the middle of
                                  a description.  Putting multiple '\n' can
                                  be used to add blank lines, even within
                                  a description)
    
    set_dark_long("It is very dark here "+
             "all you can see is this and that");
                                 (When it is dark, the mud no longer will
                                  display your set_long OR the legal exits
                                  from a room.  Consequently, this is a place
                                  you can give hints if it seems rational -
                                  for example, if you had a torch in the 
                                  room, you might be able to see some of the
                                  things in that room that you could when it
                                  was light out, including some of the
                                  exits from that room.  Note:  don't put a
                                  period or a '\n' following a set_dark_long
                                  because the MUD adds one anyways)
    
    add_item("dog", "The dog looks like this.\n");
    add_item(({"dog", "terrier", "hound"}), "The dog "+
            "looks like this.\n");
                                 (The difference between these two items is
                                  that the first one only allows a player to
                                  look at a dog and if they type look hound,
                                  they will get a Huh??  You don't have to
                                  think of every synonym for an item, just
                                  put words you used in the descrip.  With
                                  the sand in that last lesson, you might
                                  have sand, beach, and tide line all pull
                                  up the same description)
 
    set_light(100);              (The light level in the room should range
                                  from 0 to 100 - for outside rooms, this
                                  will indicate the light level during the
                                  daytime.  100 is direct sunlight, 75 is
                                  a brightly lit room, 50 is partially lit
                                  or shady, 30 is dimly lit, and 0 is
                                  complete darkness)
 
    add_exit("north", ROOM+"beach_house", "door");
    add_exit("south", ROOM+"cliff", "path");
                                 (The add_exits create exits to other rooms.
                                  Remember that an exit must be created in
                                  both rooms for them to be connnected in
                                  both directions.  The first string in
                                  the add_exit corresponds to the name of
                                  the exit (north, south, east, stairs, 
                                  portal, etc), the second is the directory
                                  location and filename that going in said
                                  direction will take you to, and the third
                                  string indicates the type of 'connection'
                                  between those two rooms.  For the most
                                  part, this third string is irrelevant and
                                  can be just about anything.  The only one
                                  that does anything is "door" which makes
                                  a door that can be opened and closed
                                  between the two.  Use "path", "road",
                                  "stairs", "corridor", and "gate" for other
                                  types of connections)
   }
 
Other little things:
 
 - Try to learn to indent, especially if you are coding off line.  It makes
   the stuff easier to read AND if there are errors, makes them much easier
   to discover.
 - Remember that every '{' requires that you have a corresponding '}'.  The
   same goes with '(' and ')'.  Indentation helps with remembering these.
 - All functions within a void setup() need to have a ';' following them
   (This is true for most things outside of the void setup() as well)
   Not putting a semicolon once you have finished with a function causes
   that function to bleed into the next one, almost always causing an error
 
 
 
       
                                 
