Scripting makes the world go around

One of the things that surprised (and pleased) me this year was the (unprompted) willingness of students to source and implement LSL scripts for their OpenSim builds. It definitely added another dimension to their work. That said, I don't teach a programming course per se so it would be good if students had a simple way to generate script not available "off the shelf".

(Incidentally, as far as shelves go, Fleep Tuque has a library of OpenSim-tested scripts and Ferd Frederix offers a wide-ranging LSL collection though not necessarily OpenSim-ready).

Simple scripts can also be written using the venerable AutoScript and, with a little more effort, Scratch4OpenSim, a version of Scratch4SL modified by Rich White. Somewhere between the two lies Con Wylie's script generator.

Now Rich has built his own Scratch-inspired, through-the-web scripting environment called Scriptastic. If you have used Scratch, you already know how this works. While intended for student use, it is potentially useful for rapid development of simple outline scripts more generally. The output is currently somewhat simpler than Scratch and a lot easier to modify. [Incidentally, there's also a new game creation engine called Stencyl that uses the Scratch-style interface].

Finally, there is another visual development environment called MiceOnABeam (MOAB) that is available as a limited but fully functional version as well as a pro developer edition. This is significantly more sophisticated than anything I've seen previously and appears to be well-documented and supported.

For the most part it is not hard for someone who has done a little scripting to see how MOAB relates to bog-standard LSL. It comes with a limited library of Actions (frequently used routines) that is scheduled to grow and you can add your own as well. I have yet to use MOAB "in anger" so it remains to be seen what the overhead might be in terms of performance (there is a performance analyser in the pro version) and potential for code "lock-in" to the system.

Overall, I suspect the product may have value for folk such as myself who are intermediate-level/occasional scripters with multiple projects active and needing a layer of abstraction to help keep tabs on them. Anyway, I will trial it and report back.