Script engine inconsistencies. Lindens please fix this or warn us.

Hi,

I am noticing an increase in the inconsistency of the manner in which scripts behave. Last night I had a script working perfectly. I saved a copy of it and after a while I went to start on something else, but noticed that that particular script was not functioning as before. A simple touch script that brought up a dialog.

Well I tried relogging and it still did not work. Reset the script and then recompiled it in that order and then in reverse order. I had no idea what went wrong. I proceeded to rewrite the script paying close attention to detail ensuring my syntax was "spot on".

After going back and forth having it work, then not work, then work, then not work, I finally caved in to my frusturations and went to sleep at about 3 am. I had worked on it for at least 2 and a half hours.

I woke up the next morning and started to work at it again. I pulled out the orginal that worked fine before and guess what...it worked fine again! It still works fine. I have not had a problem from that script all day.

But then other scripts one by one have been behaving in the same manner all day. this has been going on for at least a week now. It makes it nearly impossible to make much progress on much of anything that requires scripting.

I am not the only one I know, some groups in SL that focus on scripting have individuals that have mentioned they too are having these issues.

What causes this? I know I probably will not get an answer being that there is no Linden Answers forum anymore but just in case you peek in, please let us know what is going on. If possible please create an SL Script Threat Condition System so that scriptors know when it's NOT safe to work. It would save some of us from attempting to fix something that is not broken and stop wasting our time when we could very well be progressing onto something else.

Do they know when the system is unstable? Do they know when script behavior is compromised? is there some way we can know this ourselves easily in the standard SL Viewers?

If anyone else has had these problems and found a way around it or knows how to avoid it, please let us all know!

Thanks and sorry for the rants
Maddy

It's rarely safe to work on Sundays, often not safe on Saturdays, and never so far as I can tell is it worthwhile to try to work on scripts when there is more than 32,000 people online

Really not being sarcastic (much) either

[Edit] Had some smileys, but I got this message: "You have included too many images in your signature or in your previous post. Please go back and correct the problem and then continue again. "

I also heard it's not so safe to work on Mondays while eating ice cream, Tuesdays before sexz, Wednesday after updates, Thursdays during a rain storm in Dallas, and possibly on Fridays when there's a Presidential Address to the Nation on CBS that may be important.

Just kiddin' LOL.

I'll keep your advice in mind. I never think to look at the current population online. I guess that would effect scripting performance.

As suggested above, I am not a writer of scripts or even one with much knowledge of their applications....my experience lately has been with attempting to put a certiain gadget into service, and this thread seemed appropriate for my contribution...First SL literally ate the controller while I was standing by....I looked up and part of the floor was missing along with the scripted objects that it was linked with...well, I was determined to make it work, so I purchased another one and started over....today or yesterday I had recovered to the point where work had stopped earlier...now, instead of the controller going missing, everytime I start the script, other associated objects disappear...I blame myself....maybe I am asking too much of the system I bought...but is it SL? and if it is, is there value in timing my work to take advantage of periods of lower demand?....and IF it is SL, is there any reason to think it will ever get better or shall I go back to sitting in a money chair and collecting free inventory?

What else is new these days

Hmm ...

As a scripter, I see consistent results. The dataserver is terribly inconsistent, and I often get 'frozen out', where I can edit objects and scripts (or at least, I THINK I am) but there is really no interaction between client and server and I can't move or rez new objects.

But scripts seem to operate consistently. When I'm getting nutty results, the nut generally turns out to be me. As a professional programmer for 30 years, I've learned to point the finger at myself first.

To document flaky behavior, you have to really nail it down to a trivial script that gives nondeterministic results, and post the script describing behavior. Even apparently simple scripts can have insidious bugs that cause irrational behavior. If you want anything done about it, you have to document the problem. Just as we pros have to do before we file a bug against hardware, compiler, or infrastructure.