Demand for an LSL Book!

Hey, I'm still around; I just haven't had a chance to find a copy of the book that I compiled too long ago.

I was wondering if anyone would like to help me with a more authoritative (authority in a group of people, vs. a single compiler, like me) LSL book by becoming a part of a group with me to:

1) Decide what stuff should go into such a book.
When I compiled version one of 'The LSL book' it really only had, at best, an LSL novice's approach to useful scripts ( which was pretty much everything at that time ). If you're interested in helping; just send me an instant message about it.

2) What formats/locations make it 'readily' available.
All text that I write is 'plain vanilla' text--just ASCII encoding. I'm willing to re-compile version two from that version into a word doc, html, pdf (thanks to google docs), etcetera...
The LSL book should be made available through LSL itself--given the excellent capabilities of SL's asset server, I think it can be cut up into a multi-level notecard. If someone is willing to host it, via html or pdf, please let me know, otherwise I'll just post it as a google document for others to look at.

3) Gather content!
The job of gathering the relevant (as decided in step 1) content is the absolute hardest part of the job of compiling. If you could send anything *you* think in relevant to an LSL book that people would like to read, please let me know with an instant message, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks for your feedback,

Dominick DaSilva

a chapter on byte shift operators perhaps. the only thing I use them for is multiplication and division by 2.

and lots of efficiency tips. even the basic infinite loops are very bad in LSL(2% of a servers scripting resources FTW, on a real timer it's .02% or less)

I've had a few offers in sl from authors with original content, too. No one has given ideas on *what* should be in the lsl book--so thanks for your input.

tons of examples... grin.

When a draft is getting close to ready, I might be able to offer to help proof it if I don't have any big SL projects at the time. I was a member of Editor's Association of Canada, though I haven't kept it up because my career has taken another path.

God, I would KILL for a decent LSL textbook!!!

There is a wealth of information in these forums and on the various wikis, but it's a struggle to find what I'm looking for ... and, when (if) I do, it tends to be piecemeal. I'm not sufficiently code-brained to stitch the pieces together effectively.

Dom, I can't tell you what I would like your book to cover because the answer is - er, everything!

I'm constantly abandoning SL projects because I simply do not have the time to figure it all out. I am no kind of code/ maths/ computer genius (what the hell is a byte shift operator?) but manage to get along just fine with PHP and javascript because good reference books are available.

Maybe one example of my everyday LSL frustrations would be the simple (hah!) issue of flow control. I thought I'd read a thread about case switches in LSL, but wanted to know whether a switch would be more efficient in LSL than an if-else routine. Searching for it again, though, I found nothing about switches and a nice post from Strife about how best to structure an else-if for LSL. This is really helpful! But, again, it's one little part and I desperately need advice on the whole business.

A book that does for LSL what the Sitepoint or Dummies books do for PHP would be a godsend. As LSL's environment evolves quickly, it should be a regular earner, too!

There's a whole bunch of exciting stuff about scripting for a game (SL is my first experience) that doesn't apply to 'normal' scripting, because your script is interacting with visuals and dynamics. I assume this means your book should actually be several books, to effectively encompass all these additional issues!

Sorry for rambling a bit. I *SO* want a textbook for LSL: one that actually tells you "how-to". Please do it!!!

Yes. I'll host the Web version

Cherry

heh, ever read a programming text book?

section it off into categories of calls
section that off with walking a user through how each funstion works, with examples
include known problems/errors

but that only SOUNDS simple =)

I will make a prediction though... if you write it, they will come

We are in telepathic contact, Void

I just came back here after thinking about this very topic in the shower!

LSL is not exactly the most modular of languages, which is the source of my endless confusion. To try & combat this, I started making partial scripts that I can stitch together to approximate the results I want. Modules, LSL-stylee.

It's a pain to do (well, it is for someone like me) ... BUT it works! What's required, alongside a walk-through of the most common usages, is a library of script sections that use common variables. Once you have your standard varnames, the whole thing becomes much clearer.

Obviously "The Brilliant LSL Book" will need to cover a whole lot of other stuff, especially when it comes to appreciating why memory efficiency is so important (and how to achieve that). However, that stuff does become instantly more approachable when you can see how to create script flow.

If I still have any of my early 'modules', I'll IM them as requested. Not that they're great, but maybe it will trigger some useful trains of thought?

Cherry.

...can you hear me now? =) I actually do this alot, saving useful snippets, a habit I picked up when I was doing web page scripting... the stiching together is where it becomes 'fun' o.0


hah you just put into words what I've been trying to do with my personal style... rewrite all those mostly unimformative variable names that come with events and functions to something more human readable....


another thing that needs it's own special section, because there are so many tricks, and some really only should be learned AFTER you have the basics down so you don't misuse them where they aren't effective... especially those with tradeoffs of speed vs memory, and similar... brilliant additions Cherry =)

IMHO it would be a lot more useful if this effort went into adding more to the LSL Portal Wiki. There's already a good start there and a Wiki is much more useful for programming than a book.

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL_Portal

I agree with Shadowcat. You can't copy and paste out of book!

Hi,

I agree with Shadowcat, but I would also prefer to have a book of LSL on my desk or beside my bed (preferable as a PDF that I can print out) with a better to read style than the wiki. I am that old fashioned type of coder, that likes to have a good documentation in paper format on his desk, just in case the wiki is not reachable or I do not have access to the internet


Shyan

You can actually have the best of both worlds. I use Osgeld's downloadable wiki and constantly add code snippets and notes into the pages. And as for using snippets, you can create them and use them as includes if you code in ESL with Scite-EZ. When you are finished then it will output an lsl file with the includes merged in.

Not knocking the book. I would be one of the first to read it.

Well there was talk awhile back of making the LSL Portal available as a regularly updated download for offline use. There seems to be one done every few months for Katherine Omega's Wiki, it would be nice to have one for the Portal too. I code on airplanes and buses and really need an offline reference.

One area books generally cover much more completely than Wiki's are overviews, tips, discussions and examples. I'd think this would be a great area for contributions particularly by people who can actually write with some style (as opposed to most of us geeks who are better at accuracy than explanation).

As for actual paper, I'm somewhat ambiguous about that myself, generally I prefer a virtual book, but I've also got literally piles of books on my desk (and surrounding floor) as well. I wonder if it would be possible to build a set of page links or something like that to automatically compile a linearly readable book from the material in the wiki? That way it could be dumped out and if desired printed, and would be automatically updating as well.

Ya that would be great!

Shyan

Well, D daSilva did say s/he was looking to build a Web, PDF, SL and *notecard* version (how great an idea is that?!) I offered to host the Web version - though haven't heard anything back yet. A wiki isn't (and can't be) a book: a book can offer linear threads, a comprehensive index, more context and more explanation.

I imagine contents from the book could be incorporated into the Wikis; I'm sure I'm not the only person who'd also buy a book, for all the reasons above.

Further offer: I'm an author, though not of programming books! I'm more than happy to attempt some of the context & explanatory material, as long as you 'grown-ups' write the clever stuff.

Void: Cheers

Cherry.

First, I think the focus is wrong. LSL is useless *without* SL. The book should be about Creating Content in SL, with an emphasis on things that scripts can help you do.

There are at least two audiences for such a book. One is the skilled programmer who needs to know how this new language works, and what it can be used for. The other is the novice programmer who will need chapters on topics such as iteration or function parameter passing, not to mention design.

There is also a need for a detailed and correct reference manual, or (wo)man pages. This is sort of how the LSL Portal has gone. It is not very useful for beginners. The old wikis tended to be more turorial in nature.

Two of the greatest programming books ever were

The C language
Programming in the Unix Environment

They each took a tutorial approach. By the end of the first chapter, you had already created a useful program (in the Unix environment, anyway . I would take the same approach to LSL, sort of along these lines...

Suppose you had a little pet object. How would you make it always face it's owner, and cry when the owner leaves? Well, here's how.....

Next chapter: How to make wings flap...

Next chapter: How to make fireworks display, and a hot tub steam.

Next: Keep a list of people who visit your house, and post it to your web site...

and so on. Along the way, people learn about functions and loops and events and states by osmosis.

What Not to Do: Write a book that is organized according to the language itself, as in

Chapter one: States
Chapter two: If-Then-Else
Chapter three: Particle systems
Chapter four: math functions

and so on. This is a good reference manual, but it will not help people create content unless they already know a lot.

Book vs Wiki. Suppose you had already written a great LSL book. In your wildest dreams, how many copies would you sell? Will a publisher care about that small a number?

I vote Wiki...

Take a look at The College of Scripting, Science and Music at
Horsa 51, 226, 85
It is VERY helpful. The place is huge (8 floors) and they have a lot of examples. You can create prims and step through each of the examples right there.