The C precompiler and LSL

Just had a wicked idea this morning: use the C precompiler with LSL. It rocks...

To try it out:

1. download Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=272be09d-40bb-49fd-9cb0-4bfa122fa91b&DisplayLang=en
   
2. Install it to the default location at c:\program files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003
   
3. download SciTe and Ezhar's plugins from here:
   /54/c4/18335/1.html
   
4. download the SciTe ESL pack from: http://www.geocities.com/hughperkins/SciTEESL.zip and unzip the contents into c:\program files\SciTe
   
5. launch SciTe, open a .esl file and press ctrl-F7 to precompile and see notepad open with the precompilation results ready to copy and paste
   

Sample ESL file (ESL = "Extended SecondLife Language"
(save this as "test.esl"

// Comment out DEBUG for release
#define DEBUG

// Sample comment that will be stripped

#include "header.esl"

Init()
{
   Debug("test");
   SetText("Test SetText" );
}

default
{
   state_entry()
   {
      Init();
   }
}

Headerfile that this goes with (save as "header.esl":

#ifdef DEBUG
#define Debug(f) DebugPrint(f)

DebugPrint( string Message )
{
   llWhisper( 0, llGetScriptName() + ": " + Message );
}

#else
#define Debug(f)
#endif

SetText( string Message )
{
   llSetText( Message, <1,1,1>, 1.0 );
}

When you precompile test.esl from SciTe, by pressing ctrl-f7, you will see:

DebugPrint( string Message )
{
   llWhisper( 0, llGetScriptName() + ": " + Message );
}

SetText( string Message )
{
   llSetText( Message, <1,1,1>, 1.0 );
}

Init()
{
   DebugPrint("test");
   SetText("Test SetText" );
}

default
{
   state_entry()
   {
      Init();
   }
}

Now comment out #define DEBUG in the source test.esl, reprecompile (ctrl-F7), and you will see this version:

SetText( string Message )
{
   llSetText( Message, <1,1,1>, 1.0 );
}

Init()
{
   ;
   SetText("Test SetText" );
}

default
{
   state_entry()
   {
      Init();
   }
}

All the debug commands have been completely stripped from the code! Leaving your code crisp and fast and ready for release.

Just for info, here is the batch file that does the precompilation. This is the file "precompilelsl.bat" in the SciTeESL.zip bundle that you downloaded earlier.

set PATH=%PATH%;c:\program files\Microsoft visual C++ toolkit 2003\bin

cl /Tc"%1.esl" /EP >"%1.lsl"
notepad "%1.lsl"

Azelda

That's brilliant, Az. Thanks.

in esl.properties

file.patterns.lsl=*.esl

needs to be changed to

file.patterns.esl=*.esl

without this change you won't have highlighting in *.lsl files.

in precompilelsl.bat you will also want to change so you can compile files with spaces in the names. (may not be supported by win 9x/me

set PATH=%PATH%;c:\program files\Microsoft visual C++ toolkit 2003\bin

cl /Tc"%*.esl" /EP >"%*.lsl"
start notepad "%*.lsl"

Since this uses the c precompiler it gives you access to all syntax toys.

Features:
Comment stripping (// and /* */ types)
#define
#include


finaly global variables without global variables

I've writen a simple text stripper to clean up after the precompiler. It just removes most vertical whitespace.

Source included. See attachment for download

I try to download the SciTEESL.zip file and they say the page isn't there, tried a file searching site to find it elsewhere with no luck, is there anywhere else to get this thing? Thanks in advance.

Nice thinking Azelda. It looks like a lot of work for a small script, but I have worked on some monster scripts in the past that could have benefited from this.

Ok, bug in esl.properties corrected, whitespace stripper added.

New installer here:

http://www.geocities.com/hughperkins/SciteESLSetup.zip

Azelda

Ahhh, its down again, you gotta love geocities.

in the precompiler.bat i made a change that let it pass comments, which i didn't relize at the time that would be a problem with /* */ style comments. You will if it's enabled remove the /C flag from the precompiler line. haven't checked the new install. This was my fault; i have updated my download attachment above.

It would be really nice if someone would make a nice precompiler & syntax checker specificly for LSL & ESL


You can't directly link downloads from geocities. Link them a geocities page that automaticly dowloads the file.

Thanks Strife! I wasnt aware of the downloading problem because the firewall actually completely blocks geocities.com for me; cant test it.

Here's a new link that could work better:

http://geocities.com/hughperkins/downloadSciteESLSetup.html

Azelda

Works for me.

Thanks!

Hi,

I've written a program to copy text from a file to the clipboard. This can replace the "start Notepad and copy all the text" stage.

The program lives here: http://johnp.net/cbop/

Cheers,

John

does it handle NT & 9X clipboards? they use different commands to operate.

and you should use Ezhar's version found here because it incorporates the precompiler, newer lex file, (my file stripper in the next release) and a program to auto copy the code for you when you compile (sorry already thought of).

I looked at your program, it's a good peice of code

Maybe I'm missing something here, but why would you want to strip comments out of your code? The only reason I could see is that you're trying to save memory in the script. However, from my own testing I have confirmed that the space taken by code in the heap is the space required to hold the compiled version, not the script itself (which makes perfect sense). Since comments get ignored during compilation then they have no affect on the memory used while the script is running.

This would be fine if it's one of your own scripts (since you'd be working on the original in your external editor when making changes), but if the script is passed on to anyone else they could end up with a 500 line script with absolutely no comments in it. Now that's not a good thing, surely.

Don't get me wrong though. It's not that I'm saying that this whole idea is a bad one, cause I'm sure we'd all agree that LSL could do with @define's and #include's. It's just that I can't see any good reason for stripping the comments.

There is only one good reason (besides writing obfuscated code) and that is so you can use /* */ style comments (as the precompile will then strip them). But that is an option you can enable or disable.

Comment stripping is not enabled by default in Ezhar's release.

Bahhh i'll just bump that thread...

Basically Ezhar Fairlight absorbed this great idea into his release. I consider this thread only important for historical purposes at this point (and think it should be locked and people pointed to the other).