Is OpenJK meant to be so C90?

[MXXIV]

I wanted to fork OpenJK and try to make changes. My aim is mostly improving server management. I also wanted to build a map parser module for myself.

 

However I was really surprised to see that the whole project is written in C90 style, rather than C++. I'm not saying it's inherently wrong at all, just a bit strange for a 2017 project. It also makes derivatives more complicated, given the nasty amount of global variables.

 

So the question essentially is whether moving to more C++ style project is something that is welcome, or if the game is written as C program intentionally and mixing C++ patterns would be bad.

[Xycaleth]

OpenJK is a cleaned up/slightly modified version of the original code which was written back in 2002 which itself is built on the Quake 3 engine from 1997.

 

C++ wasn’t so popular back then so the vast majority of the code stuck with C89. Some of the newer code written specifically for JKA is in C++ but doesn’t resemble anything you would consider “modern” by today’s standards.

 

I would say adding/writing C++ code for the sake of writing C++ isn’t particularly useful. Unless something benefits from using C++ then there’s not really much need to do so

[MXXIV]

I didn't know the original source was ever available, I originally thought this is written from scratch. Thanks for explaining.

 

I didn't mean rewriting just for the sake of rewriting, but for example if I were to create map parser dynamic library, I suppose I would be best of rewriting the current parser to OOP. Interfacing scripting APIs, such as lua/python/javascript also probably works better with C++ objects that can be passed to lua.

 

Of course I can just fork the project and do whatever, but I'd be more happy to write code that benefits others as well.

[Circa]

You could fork the project and if the OpenJK gents like what they see, I'm sure they'd be willing to merge your stuff into the main project. Maybe.

[Archangel35757]

@@MXXIV ...if you are planning to interface some scripting language, perhaps you should chat with the other OpenJK devs on Discord.