[sldev] Scripting the client

Tateru Nino tateru.nino at gmail.com
Thu Aug 2 07:38:37 PDT 2007


It's also a common scripting language for games. I can name four or five
major titles where much of the game is built in python over the engine.

Dzonatas wrote:
> Lawson English wrote:
>> You said  on the forums that you were working on a Python plug-in.
>> Why specifically Python, rather than Lua, given the relative
>> simplicity of implementing Lua as a plug-in scripting language (that
>> is what it is designed for) compared to implementing a Python
>> plug-in, and the fact that Lua is already used as the scripting
>> language for the Worlds of Warcraft client and has a proven track
>> record for scripting such a system?
>>
>> Please keep in mind that I use neither language. My question is
>> purely a technical one about the relative simplicity and cleanliness
>> of the plug-in.
>>
>
> Several reasons exist to answer your question.
>
> There was a notice somewhere posted awhile back that LL has internally
> accepted python as the main scripting language for development. That
> was mainly in the build and maintenance process and didn't reflect
> LSL. The action set a due weight on python to integrate it with the
> viewer, furthermore.
>
> The sources reveal that some work has already been done to integrate
> python. Since it appeared the integration appeared to be stale, I took
> the initiative to continue that progress from what I noticed has been
> already done.
>
> Any implementation at such lower-level, be it included in the main exe
> or as a binary plug-in, has to have license compatibility with LL's
> terms. The implementation of python that is already done does carry an
> already accepted license.
>
> There is some integration between Maya scripts and python, and that is
> a benefit to artist and sculptie creators.
>
> There is already a well established interface between Blender and
> python, and that is a powerful tool to many artists.
>
> There is already ample work (Iron Python) to integrate python compiled
> scripts with mono/ecma, which we known mono is already another
> preferred scripting basis. This hints that it is probably easy to move
> from the license model now established to one that also includes
> mono/ecma basis in the viewer, if desired.
>
> Another item to consider is cost. While I'm not against many other
> languages, they may be more costly to support. Since python has rooted
> a precedence in use, it appears less costly to continue with such
> route than to completely switch to a new scripting language.
>
> If you want to continue with Lua, I suggest to creat a jira task and
> gather votes. From there, we can create sub-tasks to cover the other
> details needed to implement and support another scripting language 
> under the open source model.
>
> Others have expressed desire for their choice in scripting languages,
> too. That means the binary plug-in API needs to evolve to allow such
> robustness.
>

-- 
Tateru Nino
http://dwellonit.blogspot.com/



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