IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

EVE Online moves to Python 3

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

Theme 1 – Python 2.7 lingers in financial systems
- “As crazy as it sounds Goldman Sacks and JP Morgan both maintained 2.7 Python as a core language until just a few years ago (yes, it's still used in production).” – chews
- “Python is used as a kind of ‘visual basic’ language in a lot of banks especially in front‑of‑house trading software … migrations … can take years, costs 100s of millions and involve thousands of devs.” – cyberpunk

Theme 2 – The division change shows why breaking backward compatibility hurts
- “The classic example is division: in Python 2, 1 / 2 is 0; while in Python 3 it is 0.5.” – p1anecrazy
- “From long ago memory: in Python 2, 1 / 2 did integer division. You had to do something like 1 / 2.0 if you wanted floating point division.” – smoe
- “Spot on. Py2 was integer division, Py3 was true division. In Py2 you could get the true division with an from __future__ import division.” – kingforaday

Theme 3 – EVE Online’s community, economy and pay‑to‑win shift
- “The thing I miss the most about Eve Online is the immersive free market economy … I don't like how EVE is run, and the pay-to-win mechanics added over the years to entice the whales.” – sph
- “I played EVE for many years, and I really hated the addition of skill injectors … Now it just takes real money cash.” – laughing_man
- “Over the years it lost its soul … The fact that EVE needs a new player tutorial says everything you need to know about the state of the game.” – nntwozz

Theme 4 – Asyncio vs. Stackless/coroutine approaches for concurrency
- “Stackless python had such potential … Modern Python went in a somewhat different direction with asyncio, but with tasklet and continuation it could be a much powerful combo.” – est
- “modern Python went in a somewhat different direction with asyncio, I'll say more, it went the wrong direction. I see async thing in Python as a step backwards.” – rdtsc
- “When python started incorporating asyncio my initial reaction was fairly negative … after using it for a production project I have to say I'm deeply satisfied …” – santiagobasulto
- “my impression with asyncio was that it's great for the uses case it was built for … but if you need to do something a bit different it can become an annoyance.” – vladms

🚀 Project Ideas

PyMigratE

Summary

  • Automated tool that scans Python 2.7 codebases, detects incompatibilities (e.g., integer division, unicode, exception syntax), and applies safe source-to-source transformations.
  • Generates a compliance test suite and provides a migration dashboard to track progress and risk.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Enterprise developers maintaining large legacy Python 2 codebases (finance, trading, gaming)
Core Feature AST-based rewriting + division behavior detection + auto-generated unit tests
Tech Stack Python (3.11+), libCST or parso, pytest, Docker, React for dashboard
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: SaaS subscription (tiered by LOC)

Notes

  • HN commenters lament the cost and risk of migrating 2.4M lines of Python 2 code in Eve Online and banks; a tool that guarantees behavior preservation would be welcomed. (cf. zhzeek: “what did they do about stackless?”)
  • Provides concrete utility for teams stuck on Python 2.7, reducing manual effort and enabling safer upgrades.

Stackless Studio

Summary

  • Visual debugger and profiler for Stackless Python tasklets, letting developers see tasklet creation, scheduling, and channel communication in real time.
  • Includes a plugin to translate Stackless patterns into asyncio coroutines for gradual migration.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Game server engineers and runtime engineers using Stackless (e.g., Eve Online, simulation platforms)
Core Feature Live tasklet graph visualization + channel inspection + asyncio migration assistant
Tech Stack Electron (frontend), Python backend with pystackless, WebSocket, D3.js for graph
Difficulty High
Monetization Hobby (open‑source core, optional paid support/consulting)

Notes

  • Commenters discuss Eve’s long‑running Stackless usage and the desire for better tooling (e.g., “so it's neither, it's their own scheduler”). A visualizer would make debugging and potential migration less painful.
  • Could spark discussion on HN about concurrency models and help preserve knowledge of Stackless before it fades.

EconSim SDK

Summary

  • Backend‑as‑a‑service that provides a persistent, player‑driven market engine (order books, supply‑chain, price discovery) for any game or simulation.
  • Offers SDKs (Unity, Unreal, generic HTTP/WebSocket) and analytics dashboards to tune economic parameters.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Indie game devs and MMO studios wanting deep economic gameplay without building market infrastructure from scratch
Core Feature Distributed order‑book matching, configurable commodity definitions, transaction logging, and live market API
Tech Stack Go (matching engine), PostgreSQL + TimescaleDB, Redis for pub/sub, gRPC/REST API, React admin UI
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Usage‑based pricing (API calls + stored GB) with free tier

Notes

  • Several HN users express longing for a “true, in‑depth economic MMO” and cite Prosperous Universe, Offworld Trading Company; an SDK lets them focus on game design while outsourcing the complex economy.
  • Enables rapid prototyping of economic mechanics, likely to generate discussion on HN about game design and emergent economies.

Eve Onboarding Companion

Summary

  • Community‑driven onboarding platform that curates personalized learning paths for new Eve Online players, combining mission guides, wormhole rescue coordination, and a knowledge base of player‑written tutorials.
  • Includes a “rescue‑signal” feature that lets stranded players request help from volunteer groups like Signal Cartel directly from the UI.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience New and returning Eve Online players, especially those overwhelmed by the game’s complexity
Core Feature Adaptive tutorial generator + integrated help‑request button linked to verified rescue orgs
Tech Stack Node.js/Next.js frontend, PostgreSQL for content, OAuth via Eve SSO, WebSocket for live chat, hosted on Vercel
Difficulty Low
Monetization Hobby (free, community‑supported; possible donations or sponsorships)

Notes

  • HN commenters mention the steep learning curve, the value of volunteer rescue groups (Signal Cartel), and the desire for better new‑player experience (“we could just talk to the python repl…”, “Signal Cartel… rescuing people from wormholes”). This tool directly addresses those pain points.
  • Provides a practical utility that could be embraced by the Eve community and spark discussion on improving MMO onboarding.

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