[Opensim-dev] Thoughts on Scripting

[Mike Deem]

Yes, LSL makes things difficult. What is the general feeling on
compatibility vs. improvements when it comes to scripting? Would having
both a "100% compatible" and a completely separate, and completely
different, "new scripting model" make sense?

One thing that a new model could explore are some simple declarative
triggers and actions for things like door opening, etc. In it's simplest
form, the (possibly external) script would call an API to associate
something like an llSetPrimitaveParams argument list with an event like
touch. The sim would automatically apply those changes when the event
occurs, no further interaction with the script would be needed. Look at
how events and animations work in WPF or Silverlight for an example of what
I mean.

One big long term advantage of going down a path like this is improved
security. Moving untrusted code execution out of the core simulation process
would be a really good thing. Pushing declarative trigger/action pairs back
into the secure process is much safer.

  == Mike ==

On Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 5:30 AM, Melanie <melanie at t-data.com> wrote:

> Tedd originally wanted to do a script server. Unfortunately, he
> found that many things that need to work to support LSL could not be
> pushed across a remoting path.
> He then abandoned the ScriptServer project and has removed it from
> the tree a couple of days ago.
>
> While it may be possible to make it work for some scripts and
> scripting languages, it is an unsuitable concept for LSL and
> per-prim scripting.
>
> Also, if the script server is half a world away, it would not do
> responsiveness any good. Clicking a door and encountering a 2 second
> delay until it actually opens isn't my idea of a good user experience.
>
> Melanie
>
>
> Dahlia Trimble wrote:
> > I'm not sure I agree, periodic state backups could preserve quite a bit
> of
> > information, and machines hosting simulators can fail just as a machine
> > hosting a script server. Not sure I agree with the delays either as the
> > script server may even be able to do things faster since it may only have
> > script processing to do and doesn't have to spend time processing physics
> or
> > whatnot. If it was able to communicate all the changes that needed to
> happen
> > in a server frame before the next frame starts then it may actually be a
> > faster design. I guess a lot depends on how it's implemented.
> >
> > On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 4:32 AM, J Ross Nicoll
> > <jrn2005 at cs.st-andrews.ac.uk>wrote:
> >
> >> The problem with an external script server is you're still doomed if
> >> the server goes down. You need to be able to serialise state anyway or
> >> the first extended powercut/hardware fault/intern looking for a kettle
> >> lead will cause unspeakable chaos.
> >>
> >> You'd also be bringing in even more delay in script response time, but
> >> that's relatively minor.
> >>
> >> On 7 Sep 2008, at 15:52, Mike Deem wrote:
> >>
> >> > I've also been thinking about things like global scripts and
> >> > external script servers. External script servers would solve some of
> >> > the script state serialization issues. Instead of moving a running
> >> > script from one region to another, it just keeps running on it's
> >> > server.
> >>
> >> The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland : No
> >> SC013532
> >>
> >>
> >>
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