quote: Original post by LilBudyWizer

That is an interesting perspective. I can''t say that I have ever heard anyone argue that readily available documentation was a bad thing. I suppose to each their own.

It''s the size of the documentation. Although it isn''t more than a week of reading for me at the most, I want to make this scripting language accessible to people with little or even no programming language. Plus I''ll have to write a custom manual for it and everything. For example, Some Guy mentioned Jedi Knight''s scripting engine was a turn off because it is too complex. I want to avoid the pitfall. Even a basic programming language is mind bogglingly powerful. Anything complex I want to implement I can do by adding functions whose use is completely optional instead of adding more and more syntax on to the shoulders of people who may not even know what a variable is.


And to whoever posted about MDK2 and Balduer''s Gate using Lua, if that is the case, then I certainly can use Lua too. THX A LOT

Oh and here''s a link to Lua''s main site, it''s got all the documentation and stuff. I''ve only had minor problems adding it to projects (the server was down when I was playing with it, so I wasn''t able to read that I have to put the include files in extern "C", so that caused me a bit of frustration).
http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/lua/home.html


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quote: Original post by invective

Alright, I''m expecting to get flamed for this, given all those resist windows XP banners above, but if you program in windows, can''t you just use the windows scripting engine to parse and interpret java script or VB script? This saves you the time of having to learn a new language©

RESIST M$!!!

Seriously, either choice you mention is useless for several reasons. Neither langauge is fast enough, and both have very awkward syntax.

java-script isn''t the greatest langauge period, and I have never seen a freely available parser for it (dont give me some stuff about some embedded IE functions, since I am aiming for portable code M$ provided stuff is useless).

As for VBScript, I have an extreme hatred for VB period. It''s syntax is horrible, it has a lot of little quirks, it requires M$, and im pretty sure it wouldn''t meet the speed requirements of my game.

So there''s your lecture Learning a new language is not a problem, if you know how to program, you know how to program. And if a programmer had trouble learning a scripting language, then the language is useless to the public, hence it''s worthless.



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java-script is pretty fun to work with (it is very forgiving) but it is slow. I use it a lot on my websites and such (just look at the source code, everything I reuse is stored in manager.js and theme.js). I''ve even written a low-performance database in java-script before, but I probably wouldn''t have done that if CGI was an option at the time.

I hate VBScript, that is the only reason I don''t like ASP too much, is that it has some unholy link with VBScript.

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Ahh, it did it again. I write "Javascript" (that should come out, I use the Latin-Iso dealies) but it turns it into java-script (notice the lowered casing of the first letter), trying to make it look like I can''t type or something...

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quote: Original post by Null and Void

java-script is pretty fun to work with (it is very forgiving) but it is slow. I use it a lot on my websites and such (just look at the source code, everything I reuse is stored in manager.js and theme.js). I''ve even written a low-performance database in java-script before, but I probably wouldn''t have done that if CGI was an option at the time.

Once i learnt PHP/mySQL, i have had trouble finding much use for java-script anymore. At most, it''s good for scripting a little navigation menu for navigating a large set of dynamic data. Most of everything else that a website really needs that is traditionally done through stuff like JS (and none of those damn gimmicks!) is better done through a server side script. Then you are guarenteed compatibility with all browsers, and you can do sooo much more server side.

And personally i havent found JS forgiving, especially in the area of browser compatiblity, which is a big issue for me on many of my websites. Anyway, i''ve gotten a bit off topic here




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I was just giving you a hard time. I knew what you meant, but I think you are looking at it wrong. It isn''t any idiot that is going to make entertaining mods for your game. Most people just play mods, they don''t create them. If you haven''t played with UnrealEd or one of the other more popular game editors then I would suggest you do so. It is a very time consuming task to learn to use one, much less actually create an entertaining level. Two things you should notice is that it is very time consuming to design just a simple level and second is that what makes it time consuming isn''t just laying things out, but also learning what all the differant scripts do and how to use them. You might also notice that the scripts themselves are pretty simple and you can do a great deal without ever changing a single script.

quote: Original post by LilBudyWizer

That is an interesting perspective. I can''t say that I have ever heard anyone argue that readily available documentation was a bad thing. I suppose to each their own.

I didn''t say that. If you misread my post I said, "Is it easy enough to read?" That''s the only thing I can think of where you could have gotten that.

Every language allows you to comment, so why would I say that? It''s up to YOU to document your code well.

I hate you guys. I hate you so very very much...

It wasn''t a response to your post. It was a response to LordElectro''s response to my post.

quote: Original post by LilBudyWizer

I was just giving you a hard time. I knew what you meant, but I think you are looking at it wrong. It isn''t any idiot that is going to make entertaining mods for your game. Most people just play mods, they don''t create them. If you haven''t played with UnrealEd or one of the other more popular game editors then I would suggest you do so. It is a very time consuming task to learn to use one, much less actually create an entertaining level. Two things you should notice is that it is very time consuming to design just a simple level and second is that what makes it time consuming isn''t just laying things out, but also learning what all the differant scripts do and how to use them. You might also notice that the scripts themselves are pretty simple and you can do a great deal without ever changing a single script.

Yea, true. But the more complicated the script language, the more people you alienate. Not only because it requires more understanding of programming, but also because people are naturally lazy. If a scripting language takes too much time to learn to use, even ppl with the proper ability wont bother, because there''s other stuff to do. Many mod makers started scripting a particular game just out of curiosity. The more time it takes to do anything "COOL" in the game, the less people will get into it. There are so many other games out there, it has to be worth the time invested, and the initial investment most ppl are willing to make is small.




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quote: Original post by Null and Void
I hate VBScript, that is the only reason I don''t like ASP too much, is that it has some unholy link with VBScript.

I totally agree with you on that. ASP uses VBScript. That''s why I use PHP instead. It''s syntax is more like C/C++. anyhow, that''s not the subject of the thread but I still had to get my word in. ( sorry about that )

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