I'm ready to dig into LSL...

I've modified all the free inworld scripts in one way or another to suit myself, and even written 3 or 4 from scratch. I have an idea for a new game in SL, and a fairly complicated set rotation script. With no programming experience exept basic back in C64 days, HTML doing a personal webpage and an itroduction to perl, i'm blundering through the learning proccess. I have no true understanding of the logic blocks SL uses. What RW programming language (i can buy a book and self teach) would I most benifit from learning to make the cross over to LSL? I've been to LSL classes and allthough they are helpful, i want to learn more than what can be taught in an one hour public class.

TY for any suggestions.

You can self-teach yourself at the LSL wiki, that's how I learned most of what I know so far.

http://secondlife.com/badgeo/wakka.php?wakka=HomePage

i love the WIKI... but i'm interested in learning a language that has the same basic structure as LSL. The scripting I have in mind requires a good understanding of the that.

C or C++ will be pretty close in syntax. Stay away from pointers, arrays, structs, classes/objects. They aren't the best languages for learning programming concepts though, because the syntax is pretty non-intuitive. I've been doing C for so long now though that I'm not sure what to recommend as a good language for learning about programming

If you can find a good book that *teaches* C (as opposed to a reference manual or something else like that), that might be an OK place to start.

Also, just making sure you've seen these specific pages in the Wiki.

http://secondlife.com/badgeo/wakka.php?wakka=LSL101
http://secondlife.com/badgeo/wakka.php?wakka=crashcourse

Those are general guides to LSL and programming. Maybe you've already read those... just wanted to point out that there's more to the Wiki than just the descriptions of all the functions.

Thank you Zig.
I found a C++ tutorial sight on the web... going to start with that until i get down to the local Barnes and Nobel.

Rafe, while I absolutely love C++ (it's my language of choice by a loooooong shot), I would recommend here that you not use it as a bridge to LSL.

Besides the fact that you're gonna keep on trying to use int rather than integer it is important to realise that LSL is natively a state-based language. While the brackets and semi-colon syntax is the same, the entire programming paradigm is different.

IMHO - the best language to use to learn LSL - is LSL. Make sure you understand that at any time your script will be in one (and only one) state. Whenever the script is reset it will start in the "default" state. Each state has handlers for responding to various events, some of which are caused by outside interaction (e.g. touched by an avatar), and some caused by the script itself (timers, data server requests, etc).

Each event handler can do various bits of work - including changing the script to another state, which will have different event handlers doing different stuff.

While state machines can be modelled in any computer language (of sufficient complexity) ever invented (and vice-versa) - LSL is one of the very few to be based directly and natively on the concept.

Bite the bullet - learn LSL immediately (it's a far softer bullet than C++ anyway )

I would suggest Javascript. There's a lot more similarity between Javascript and LSL than between C++ and LSL.

Wiki, no sleep & ambition!

(Maybe something to keep ya going after the first month of no sleep too)

does face down in the keyboard for 3 hours count as sleep?

Not if your pressing keys, your still "working in your sleep" then. LoL

Besides, is it just me, or do you also solve complex problems your having in game with coding, in your dreams? (Dream scripting a new wave of the future? I hope not, I want some real sleep!)

(Waits for someone else to say the same, so he knows he's not to far gone)
*Subconscious mind waves good by to reality & takes his friend "conscious" with him*

I know the feeling! Its not unknown for me to wake up in the dawn of the night run to the computer and try out the script I just dreamed up

Till Stirling