SL viewers not written in C++?

Are there any SL viewers that display graphics written in something other than C++?

There was one called Sceneviewer done in C#, but I think it's moribund.

I am in the process of starting a port to Delphi/FreePascal, but it's going to be a while before it is usable, let alone done.

Why do you ask?

Pascal would be cool. I've used Delphi a bit years ago.

I don't like C or it's derivatives and offshoots. I think other people would also find the viewer code more approachable written in something else.

I agree. That's one of the main reasons I am doing it.

That, and to of course learn, as well as clean up some of the code.

Oh, that's so boring. How about Lisp, or perhaps Forth?

Well, I was initially thinking about a COBOL port, but the 3D graphics API libraries for it are kinda sparse.

I liked Forth.

Just think of all the math the viewer has in it written in postfix. Hee hee.

Once a COBOL programmer, always a COBOL programmer!

Is SceneViewer the only one?
I've seen one, but I don't recall if it was SceneViewer or not.

I'd like to see one written in MDL

Assembly language might be nice, written by the proper people. Not to read, but to use.

/me wants a version written in LSL.

Argent's got an LSL one started here: /13/61/144629/1.html#post2258007 .

Hmm, Lisp was used for the Jax and Daxter games, interesting choice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Oriented_Assembly_Lisp

I encountered someone a couple months ago who insists that SL is written in Java.

Can someone please tell me the facts that I can IM this person - they were acting pretty high on programming knowledge about SL.

The SL viewer code is in C++.

The servers and other behind the scenes systems use C++ and Python and PHP.

They use Debian Linux as an operating system.

They use MySQL for handling databases.

They use Apache and SQUID.

I read one place that says some of the behind the curtain code is in Perl.


You will see in various places statement to the effect that LSL scripts look like Java, Javascript, C, C++, etc. There is some resemblance, particularly if you don't know anything at about programming and scripting languages. What LSL scripts look like has nothing to do with what is used to run SL on opposite end from our viewers.

O.o

Sooo.... the Viewer is really nothing more than a fancy calculator after all?

I did not know that!

Argent posted that LSL calculator snippet in a thread about a patch to the viewer code, which would (if) adopted be a change to the C++ viewer source, and would presumably require some changes to the code that handles keyboard input and changes to the ui files use to make the build editor panel. The patch was already written. You'll have to ask him exactly why.

I was making a joke.

===

The viewer does do some fancy calculations and thus might well be considered a fancy calculator by those who like to confuse things. The graphical display is just a souped up seven segment display, I suppose, for the mathegraphically impaired people who can't just look at the numbers and see the woman in the red dress.

I think it would be a waste of time to port the viewer to another language. C++ is up to the job, it's sufficiently portable, but most importantly, it's already written in C++.

A port would introduce significant bugs and always be playing "catch-up". Someone would have to keep the port up-to-date with the latest enhancements. It would be a significant amount of work. If someone wants to do this for fun, fine, but if LL did it, it would be a waste of resources that could be better employed elsewhere.

I wasn't suggesting that LL spend any time on it.

They obviously have their hands full generating huge quantities of gray textures and trying to keep the login system working and such.

I do wish I loved C and all it's variants, but I also wish I liked broccoli and other healthy green vegetables. Some things just aren't going to happen.

The Wikipedia article on GOAL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Oriented_Assembly_Lisp had a link to an interesting Powerpoint presentation called "Highly detailed continuous worlds", at http://www.gamasutra.com/features/gdcarchive/2003/Denman_Stu.ppt - it concerns the role of streaming data and code in order to make a continuous world. Sounded familiar.

I suppose I should take a look at SceneViewer. I ran it once. I'm don't remember if I compiled it or ran a binary of it. At least it's C# instead of C++.

I wondered about this to so I could start to learn my own code for my own stand alone viewer.
Thanks for asking Suezanne and everyone answering who knows.

What an interesting idea FD...a personal viewer.

A friend of mine when I asked about learning programming really pushed LISP as the way to go.

My thoughts are if it is already written in C++ and C++ has wide usage then I would be better off tweaking the existing viewer to my specs. (Perfect the shadow viewer for example)

But I'm not a programmer at all...so for all you programmers out there, does that make sense? Is that what you would recommend?

Writing an SL viewer in a different language from C++ would be extremely difficult. You'd need to know C++ if you wanted to use the existing viewer as a starting point rather than working from scratch, plus the other language.

If it was easy you can rest assured there'd be viewers written in a bunch of different languages.

Thanks Suzanne, makes sense...so learning C++ is the way to go.

Any suggestions as to the best way to learn?

Learning LSL I just try out stuff until it works but I suspect my code is ugly...

Is it possible to learn C++ from books?