Better Editor?

I code. I code a lot. It would be nice if the editor was more or less an IDE and not a property page. It would be nice to be able to view all the scripts and objects in a linked set of prims as a 'project' with their contents, and be able to edit them together without rotating, finding such-and-such a prim, clicking on it, etc.

it would also be nice to be able to modify the link order. Perhaps moving the item up and down in a list box would have that effect?

It would be nice to be able to flip between a controlling and listening item though a right-click on the llLinkMessage() command (if its properly formed) and click through to the corresponding message_linked event (if it is properly formed).

Add Intellisense (TM).

How about auto-syntax check (mostly because I keep messing up the Case Sensitivity..)?

It would be nice to be able to have a split-screen w/ two segments of the same code file.

It would be nice to be able to drag/drop items from one object (in the IDE) to another

It would be nice to be able to 'share' a script ( or any item) between fifty prims so that they behave EXACTLY similar without an updating nightmare. Perhaps the 'editor ' could duplicate the item across the objects and maintain their state?

So before I threw this out to the feature request (probably to result in a dozen heart attacks in the LL development corps) I thought I'd sent it out to you, the forum readers for abuse and praise. So ... whaddya think, kids?

Thats a great idea!

Doesn't sounds so difficult to program this as well. So I hope LL will give this a go!

If only you knew how long "find" has been requested in the script editor to no avail, you'd probably not bother posting your feature suggestion

I'm not saying it isn't a well thought out proposal, just that I wouldn't get too excited about its prospects.

Isn't Mono coming soon (well, whatever 'soon' means) and wouldn't that mean that we would be able to use several external IDE's for scripting? Maybe that's why LL doesn't put too much effort into a better script editor. I've started using UltraEdit with the LSL wordfile extensions - it's a start, but not a IDE of course.

But yeah, better tools make better scripts (hopefully)!

No, seriously, I haven't heard about mono.

a two things values to having essentially in-world IDE -

1. LSL specificity - LSL is a custom language. It wouldn't make sense to have an external editor that is essentially lsl-blind. you can't have link ordering or link-sensitive navigation in an editor is that LSL blind. If LL is going to make us work on a link-enumerated system, it would remove some of the burden and awkwardness.

2. Asset management -Upload/Download stinks, cut-and-paste stinks. Allowing an editor to manage the assets is going to be better as it is controlled and finite. No UL/DL work around is needed - the documents are all managed on the servers.

3. Object content management - The IDE editor would also permit the organization of materials in multiple objects. Not only scripts, but sounds, notecards, textures, etc etc ... This cannot and should not be done out-of-world.

I think it's based on C# and is an open-source language - I could be wrong. It will supposedly replace LSL eventually.

some mentioning in this thread

and a specific discussion in this one

Ezhar made available his ScITE extensions for LSL if you dig that external editor.

I keep hearing so much about Mono... and I hear a lot of misinformation.

You can read on it here
http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page

"Mono provides the necessary software to develop and run .NET client and server applications on Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, Windows, and Unix. Sponsored by Novell, the Mono open source project has an active and enthusiastic contributing community and is positioned to become the leading choice for development of Linux applications."

I thought it was NOT going to replace LSL but rather that LSL was going to compile to Mono virtual machine bytecode.

-----------
Andrew Linden: The MONO script engine will allow residents to write their own scripting language, eventually
Andrew Linden: right now there is LSL
Jeffrey Gomez: For example, I've been waiting a month to get my Game Dev Land now, likely because newer stuff is being pushed out the door.
Iron Perth: heh heh
Andrew Linden: but with MONO bytecode it will be possible for somone to write llPython -- as long as it compiles to the same bytecode
Iron Perth: hands jeffrey soapbox
Andrew Linden: so the bytecode will be a sort of API.
Jeffrey Gomez: Mmmm... Python.
---------------------------------------------------------

Mono BTW is the open source implimentation of .net. It doesn't "look" like anything, but C# which is used with it looks like Java. You don't "code in mono", rather, mono (and .net) support many languages including...

Ada

APL

AsmL

BETA

BF

C

C++

Caml

Cobol

Eiffel

Forth

Fortran

G

Haskell

IL/MSIL

Java

JavaScript

Lexico

LISP

LOGO

Lua

Mercury

Mixal Assembly Language

Mondrian

Oberon

Nemerle

Pan

Perl

Pascal

Pascal Variants

PHP

Prolog

Python

boo

Ruby

RPG

Scala

Scheme

Small Talk

SML (Standard Meta Language)

Spry

Tcl/Tk

My understanding is that the mono virtual machine can let you write in just about any language made to compile to its bytecode. There is a demo of a program writen in 3 separate languages compiling to mono.

I don't belive it will change the way we script or allow us to put in external programs, will it? (outside of writing in an external editor and copy and pasting).

Do we have any official info on exactly how mono will impact LSL coding??? I thought it was going to all be invisible / back end (with a noticable speed difference).

Blueman, you're basicaly correct. Here are a couple entries from Babbage Linden's blog about Mono. He is "Jim Purbrick" in the comments below the brief articles.

http://secondlife.blogs.com/babbage/2005/08/second_life_in_.html
http://secondlife.blogs.com/babbage/2005/08/flying_a_mono_b.html

Some relevant comments:
"Longer term we'd like to be able to allow other languages that target the CLR, like C#, VB, Boo, Nemerle and Python to be used to script Second Life and/or to extend LSL to take advantage of CIL features like objects and arrays."

"It will still be possible to use LSL to script Second Life. Other languages may also be available, but LSL will stay. Current scripts will also continue to work, they will be recompiled from LSL source to run on the Mono VM."

OMG I want Basicaly Correct as an avi name!!!

btw the first post in one of those blogs refers to "SL in Mono" as if it means non-stereo sound and no color.

Yes, this is a good idea, but the Linden's usually don't care about good ideas. Heck, they don't even care about content stealing exploits-- I've reported one twice in the past three months, and nothing has happened.

The Mono transition will be mostly transparent, except for faster scripts and new languages to code in.

It is a good idea, but I frankly think LL's time could be used better getting other things accomplished first.

Blueman, you missed the most important quote on that site:

They are changing it so you can play SL from inside a monkey?

I SWEAR I was going to mention that!!! *yes I speak spanish

but the way it's pronounced now is like maw-no like black and white or the kissy-kissy bug (and sounds like the word for "hand" in spanish)

In Spanish it's (mow'-no) with two identical vowels.(like Sonny BONO)

Could this be the GIF (gif - jif) contraversy all over again!?!?!

Nah... Sounds like a ton of shrink wrapping. Let some dude in the real world knock this up in C++ and charge $20 a pop for licensing, and become an overnight millionaire.

I quite like the current interface, it's all I need really.

Coming from a background in BASIC.. I don't have any skills in oop design.. heck I'm not even really used to functions, but I'm currently learning Java to finally start doing OOP based programing.

Will LSL it self ever become more OO?

Will languages used by SL be more OO?

O.o

If you are interested in pre-alpha testing, I have posted a fairly stable second life editor (as an Eclipse plugin) at:

http://www.simulacity.com:8080/secondlife/eclipse/index.html

It's probably too early for feature requests, but I am using it as my primary editor already, since it allows a fair bit of code validation external to SL.

/esc

"Mono provides the necessary software to develop and run .NET client and server applications on Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, Windows, and Unix. Sponsored by Novell, the Mono open source project has an active and enthusiastic contributing community and is positioned to become the leading choice for development of Linux applications."

Sounds to me like it's a set of IDE / Compiler / VM s for multiple platforms. This does not solve the real problem - an editor that is tightly coupled to SL's object structure (linking & asset management) and LSL's Event model. Cutting and pasting is essentially what is happening now. None of the code management tools that are needed are going to be present in an external editor of any kind. Neither will any third party be able to write anything (unless it's an alternate client for SL) that will be able to manage and edit code. Does the quote from PL mean that there will be a c version of llSetColor() ? or llDetectedKey() ?

It keeps coming back to an in-world editor. A more powerful in-world editor and management tool than we have now. Certainly it's not an undertaking to be started lightly. I believe it will have the effect of making more complex and more stable products available to the users of SL, increasing the potential of SL to become the dominant environment in its market. I believe that as such, it is a critical priority item... even more critical than (GASP) llWriteToNoteCard();

Mono has little to do with your question.. I was only explaining it.

As far an IDE, mock one up and make a proposal.

Mono looks good. I wonder if PHP will be allowed? *think about making a PHP script for SL to write to my SQL server*