Don't understand script grammar

I found this script:

llParticleSystem([
PSYS_PART_FLAGS, PSYS_PART_WIND_MASK
| PSYS_PART_EMISSIVE_MASK,
PSYS_SRC_PATTERN, PSYS_SRC_PATTERN_EXPLODE,
PSYS_PART_START_COLOR, <1,0,0>]);

But it doesn't seem to make sense. There's only one OR (pipe), yet according to the ParticleSystem wiki, almost all of those are independant flags. I'm guessing some of the commas delimit arguments, and some seperate the flags themselves.
How would I add PSYS_PART_INTERP_COLOR_MASK to that mess up there?

It's a list of arguments.

llParticleSystem([
PSYS_PART_FLAGS, PSYS_PART_WIND_MASK | PSYS_PART_EMISSIVE_MASK,
PSYS_SRC_PATTERN, PSYS_SRC_PATTERN_EXPLODE,
PSYS_PART_START_COLOR, <1,0,0> ])

The bold show the commands, the italics the paramters. A few LSL commands work like this; they take a single list as an argument, and parse it. If the function sees PSYS_PART_FLAGS then the next list item is the flags, and you can add extra flags to it.

If you want to play with particles I suggest looking at http://secondlife.com/badgeo/wakka.php?wakka=LibraryKeknehvParticles which provideds a nice layout for easy editing.

Thank you! I was looking for that too!

Thanks for the example, Nepenthes, I'll check out the particle tutorial too. My confusion stems from the fact that commands and arguments within them are all delimited by the same character. With a little more practice I'm sure I'll be able to make sense of this rather unusual syntax.

Consistency is for people who don't like a challenge!

Working around the flaws in LSL is part of being a scripter, just as working around the flaws in the UV maps are part of being a clothing designer, working around the limitations of the building system is part of being a builder, and working around lag is part of playing Second Life.

Hrm, but inconsistent language syntax is easily fixable, and not dependant on environmental conditions (server traffic) like lag. I'll end by saying it's very strange that as successful as Linden has been, they haven't yet fixed these throbbing flaws.

and, that's how list items are seperated. by commas. see how the start and end of the list are specified with [ and ]? that's how you know you're dealing with a list. lists can contain any type of argument between the commas: strings, floats, integers, vectors, etc. the list doesnt care. it's up to the function that interprets the list (or us abused coders) to make sense of the list. a list is just a big bucket o stuff. lol.

after saying that, I agree that it looks kinda strange that the flags are ORed with |. i guess the flags are stored as bitfields internally, so ORing makes sense, but it does look weird in the middle of a list.

oh yeah. lists are what passes for arrays in LSL. you can call elements of a list by their index. but only 1 dimensionally. unless you get very tricky.

and yes, i'm allergic to caps. lol.

What do you mean, "throbbing flaws"? This is simply list syntax-- would you rather they had a function call with 50 parameters?

i like that terminology. but then i'm weird. and i do see his point about the confusing syntax. the syntax doesn't (imho) make enough distinction between list parameters and list values. the two are just thrown together in a jumble, since that's how lists work. jumbly.

it feels like the particle system functionality was shoehorned into a list because that's the only data structure which was available to hold it and readability be damned.

there must have been a better, less confusing, way to implement it. but, it's too late, now.

oh, and Zerir, if you thinks lists are fun... wait till you try and read from a notecard. giggle.

to be fair, we are supposed to be getting MONO support rsn (real soon now.) MONO should (theo-rhetorically) allow us to code in languages other than LSL. time will tell.