Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Posts: 121 Location: Richmond, VA
Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:39 am Post subject:
One of the many simple services I am working on. Hopefully soon you'll see a nice list on Botwork.com.
Basically you give it a host name or ip address and it returns the host name, ip address, latitude, longitude, and links to mapquest and terraserver. All data is returned in plain text.
usage:
Quote:
http://www.thomashp.com/bw/ipmap.cgi?direct=[hostname or ip]
This shows why services are so useful for bots. Instead of having to install code and data inside your own bot, you simply use an available service. The service writer is responsible for maintaining and improving it. And everyone benefits. If thomashp releases a new version of his service, it's instantly availabe to all users, nobody has to re-install it in their own bot.
And on top of that, maybe someone will come along and try to create a better service than thomashp - this is called competition and benefits everyone.
Also, notice how this service was updated all anyone using it instantly gets to use the updated service. Think about the other solution: 100 bots each with their own copy of the code for this, each having to be updated. Not good.