The LSL Hackers' Test v. 0.9

The LSL Hackers' Test v. 0.9

Your score starts at 0, add one for each question you can say "yes" to.
Technicalities count.

LSL Basics
[ ] 00. You know how to write the "Hello, Avatar!" script from memory.
[ ] 01. You know where to your ometry badge is.
[ ] 02. You have saved a script in your inventory and wondered why the save didn't complete.
[ ] 03. You have been editing a script and wondered where the reset button is.
[ ] 04. You have saved a script in an object without checking all the boxes, and wondered why it isn't running.
[ ] 05. You tried using the "Insert..." dropped down.
[ ] 06. You have been amazed at all the curses you know after pressing "Undo Changes."
[ ] 07. You have tried to share a script with a friend. Only have them tell you change the permission.
[ ] 08. You have dragged a script into a folder, and now you can't find the script.
[ ] 09. You have dragged a script into a prim, and now you can't find the prim.

Gotcha
[ ] 10. You have written an expression of mixed integer and floats and wondered why the value isn't what you expected.
[ ] 11. Your script using llDie() worked
[ ] 12. ... and taken your only copy of the script with the object when the object died.
[ ] 13. You have typed DEG2RAD, and wondered why it didn't work.
[ ] 14. You have typed llEulerToRot(), and wondered why it didn't work.
[ ] 15. You have typed llGetPosition(), and wondered why it didn't work.
[ ] 16. You have gotten confused about the index into a list and which llList2...() function to use.
[ ] 17. You have put 'llListen(0, "", llGetowner(), "";' into the state_entry script, and wondered why the object only listens to you instead of the new owner.
[ ] 18. You have tried to use llListenerRemove() and llRemoveListen()
[ ] 19. You have used llSetTimerEvent() and wondered why the timer event keeps going off.

Errors
[ ] 20. You know the heap collision error by heart.
[ ] 21. You know the chat overflow error by heart.
[ ] 22. You have spammed yourself with debug messages.
[ ] 23. You have spammed other people with debug messages.
[ ] 24. You have forgotten to take a debug message out and spammed the chat window.
[ ] 25. You have tried to use linked messages with unlinked objects
[ ] 26. You have tried to use <255, 255, 255> to make something white.
[ ] 27. You know the difference between "rotation x; rotation y; rotation z; z = x * y" and "rotation x; rotation y; rotation z; z = y * x"
[ ] 28. You've tried to multiple a rotation by a vector.
[ ] 29. You know the name in scope error by heart.

Wishlist
[ ] 30. You have wished llGetName() worked for groups.
[ ] 31. You have wished for a case stament.
[ ] 32. You have wished for passing parameters by reference.
[ ] 33. You have wished for include files.
[ ] 34. You have wished for macro processing.
[ ] 35. You have wished for local variables scoped to a state.
[ ] 36. You have wished for overloading
[ ] 37. You have wished for you could say object.function(foo)
[ ] 38. You have wished for real arrays
[ ] 39. You could pass a string as the start param for llRezObject()


Famous Scripters and Scripting history
[ ] 40. You personally know at least one of the game dev competition scripters.
[ ] 40.1 ... you are one of the game dev scripters.
[ ] 41. You know who Catherine Omega is.
[ ] 42. You know where the Particle Laboratory is.
[ ] 43. ... and who owns the Particle Laboratory.
[ ] 44. You know which scripting forum is missing.
[ ] 45. You know the name of the forum that disappeared.
[ ] 46. You know where the Script Library is.
[ ] 47. Your script has broken because of an upgrade.
[ ] 48. Your script has started working because of an upgrade.
[ ] 49. You can name a scripting feature that was added in any upgrade.

Evils and Accidents.
[ ] 50. You have written a script that can crash a sim.
[ ] 51. ... by accident
[ ] 52. ... on purpose
[ ] 53. ... you've run it
[ ] 54. ... by accident
[ ] 55. ... on purpose
[ ] 56. You have written a bump script.
[ ] 57. You have used up all the prims with llRezObject().
[ ] 58. You have dropped a sim's FPS by more then 80%.
[ ] 59. You had to relog because of what your script did.

Misc.
[ ] 60. You have rummaged through your trash looking for ANY version of the script you've been working on the for the last few hours.
[ ] 61. You have written a script while drunk/high/sleep deprived/in an altered state.
[ ] 62. ... and it works.
[ ] 63. ... but you don't know how anymore.
[ ] 64. You have learned the difference between "c = 1" and "c == 1" the hard way.
[ ] 65. You have compared LSL to C/C++, Java, Lisp, Forth, or other programming language.
[ ] 66. You have compared LSL to Perl, javascript, TCL, Ruby, php, !/bin/sh or other scripting language
[ ] 67. You have learned how to program because of LSL.
[ ] 68. You have lied on the LSL Hacker's Test.
[ ] 69. You have used the LSL Hacker's Test as checklist for things to try in LSL.

Scoring:
61-70 Are you a Linden?
51-60 Have you written one of the badgeomtry.com wiki pages?
41-50 Can you help me with this script? I want to display webpages in LSL.
31-40 That's a cool script. How did you do that?
21-30 Can you tell me how to use events?
11-20 You need to change this line of code. Get it?
00-10 RTFM: Read the Friendly Manual

Heh your scoring system is totally fucked up man. Why on earth should I get more points for wondering about things and making silly errors? Bahhh... I dont make mistakes and hardly ever have doubts

okay, so what should the next version include instead?

Well you could start by fixing 01... or is it mangled on purpose?
It doesnt make sense to score people for having made silly mistakes like misspelling functions. You could either replace those questions or award them a negative score, perhaps?

I think it kind of assumes that everyone makes the same mistakes while learning.

The only mistake I think everyone really makes from time to time is typoing '=' and '=='. That happens with all C-syntax languages though.

Also, why am I the only one mentioned by name? I'm hardly the best scripter in SL. Yes, I'm one of the louder ones, (someone changed all my wiki entries from "if you do this, you are a moron" to "don't do this", grr!) but I'm hardly the best.

I think we all just learned an important lesson about the nature of fame.

LSL Hacker Test version 0.9.1

0. can U mak me a cool plane, with big gunz?
a) no
ii) yes
3) I don't really make vehicles, I think Putoff Someotheravatar has some in his store though.

01 is mangled on purpose

* * *

the point of the hacker's test isn't a test of what you know. it's a measure of what you've learned through experience.

e.g.
the mistakes like DEG2RAD 1) indicate you know that a constant of they type exists, 2) that you also know that the conversion tools in LSL switch between 2 and To, and 3) that you've used these conversion tools.

#3 is the most important. #1 and #2 are signs you've climbed the learning curve. it's not proof positive.

* * *

the other thing is that the hacker's test is meant to be funny. if you can't look back at the things you did while learning and laugh... well... you need to grow a funny bone.

actually, it's an incomplete list of the mistakes i've made and seen in other people's could while debugging it. which is certainly an incomplete list of things one can get stuck on.

and it isn't about the mistakes themselves. it's about what making those mistakes indicate about what you've experienced.

and in no way would i presume to think any of part of the test is comprehensive.

to some extent the hacker's test is about commonality of experience. not everyone will experience everything, but most people will experience some of these things. and hopefully laugh at the memory.

fame is different from ability. but your ability is not in doubt. and even if no one knew how good you are, your webpages are a real boon to lsl scripters everywhere. (that's http://badgeometry.com for those that don't know.)

new section:

the price of experience

You have been insulted when asking Ezhar for scripting help:
[ ] once
[ ] multiple times
[ ] every single time
[ ] James Miller

;-)

Joe Foo: CAN I HAVE UR SCRIPT

[0] Sure! Here you go, IM me if you need any help with that!
[1] No.
[2]
[3] /1/orbit joe

LMAO, that is cute, both the initial thread and Francis's list.

His Grace, one you should add...Has learned scripting forgot it and relearned it several times in the period of 18 months.

Cool!

# 42 ? The Question to the Answer of Life, The Universe and Everything is... PARTICLES!! I knew it! =)

I am, however, utterly and completely stumped on #43 though. =)

--
Please pardon the dust.... Remodelling in progress.
(signature omitted due to spoilers)

[ ] Finding this test in vBulletin over a year later: +10

I see how devious this test really is, and it's not in the questions...

To number the questions from 00 to 69 rather than 01 to 70 shows that you're a true script obsessive... For the rest of the guys not to notice shows that they are too - therein lies the true test

[] You've used "int" insead of "integer" and "char *" instead of "string";
[] You've used "integer" instead of "int" and "string" instead of "char *";
[] You wonder why the questions in this quiz aren't terminated by semicolons;

[] You've also wondered about the span of the sections and why it isn't delimited by {};
[] //You've wondered how it compiles an undeclared empty list with text after if that isn't commented out;

LOL. Anybody make a perfect score yet?.. I think 11 and 12 are the 2 that hurt the most... a 3hour script to use it for 2 seconds and watch it poooooff along with 30 more minutes of sleep to rewrite it... NEVER a mistake to be made again...

How do i rip a prim in 2 and slap a peice of bologna in it?..anybody?


Later
O


*moment of silence for all those lost script and the primitive carriers to the edge our SL existance* May you llDie() in peace.

[] 70. You've complained about the implementation of LSL Hacker's test

Me: "Oh! Someone made an LSL purity test! Heh, they mentioned me by name, nice. ...oh, they did it a year ago, and I apparently already knew about it."

I have picked up a VERY bad habit of typing "int he" rather than "in the" when typing sentences. Declaring "int" data types excessively has got me finger twisted. Anyone else?

Your score is: 47!

"41-50 Can you help me with this script? I want to display webpages in LSL."

Quaternions, llDie().

[] 71 - You can instantly crash a sim with a single script
[] 72 - You can state the relative time difference between i++, ++i, and i = i + 1

i scored a 67 (on the original 71 questions 0->69 including 40.1).

With the 3 suplimentry questions thats another 2, if i get 70 will they hire me?

Question 1 doesn't make sence to me so i skipped it. Most of the wondering involved in the first and second sections were very very short lived.