At 09:40 AM 5/9/2007, Martin Guy wrote:
The proprietary player doesn't indeed have any timeline control, any
timeline control is implemented by the SWF application itself.
In that case maybe neither should we, and dump the advance/retreat control.
It's a bit like asking for a rewindable computer game... unless
someone can figure out what it means to rewind a flash movie.
I basically agree with this position. For arbitrary code, the only way in
general to rewind it is to record its execution history and replay _that_
in reverse, ignoring the code that generated said history. Sure, it will
suck memory. It's an expensive operation.
I do see a use for such a functionality, specifically for authors to
inspect the execution of their code. The right schedule-time to implement
this is not for an end-user player, but when building up a full development
environment. Such functionality seems premature rather than never-needed
to my eye.
Did I say arbitrary code--the same phrase relevant in
security? Yep. Beware, beware, beware.
I also see the utility of being able to rewind simple scripts, for some
certainly-yet-to-be-determined definition of "simple". On the other hand,
I will shout that until the general reversal problem is well-understood, DO
NOT ATTEMPT THIS. Such an effort would be a security-defect-generator of
the very worst sort.
To summarize my opinion today:
-- Item "development suite" blocks item "full reversibility".
-- Item "full reversibility" blocks item "partial reversibility".
I recommend no immediate action on this issue, except to deactivate the
rewind button for scripts and get back to safety.
Eric
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