Re: [GD-General] I just don't get it (Was: Scripting Systems)

[Brian H. <ho...@py...>]

> Please enlighten my heathen mind: Why not simply compile your
> "scripts" into C/C++ .DLLs?  

The sheer number of them can be daunting.  In a lot of cases you're 
talking about several hundred if not several thousand scripts if you 
want to be able to dynamically load/reload chunks of code.

I actually posed the same question not too long ago (look for the 
thread "DLLs as game objects").

But other considerations:

- scripts now requires real programming, whereas a language like Lua 
or Python is (in theory) a bit friendlier when doing basic scripting 
like behaviour, triggers, etc.

- security problems since you can't sandbox C++ particularly well

> Um, really?  Is Lua any easier to write than C?

Yes, since there aren't any pointers.  Remove memory management, and 
probably 50% of newbie C mistakes are gone.  Get rid of arcane syntax 
like the whole & vs. * thing, and you get rid of another good chunk.  
Get rid of "stack" vs "heap" and hey, more problems go away. 

> 3. The security of a sandbox.
>
>
> Ok, you've got me there, if your primary goal in scripting is to
> allow your fanbase to create new content without exposing other
> users to a variety of security scenarios, then I suppose you've
> found your holy grail.  

That's a pretty major one, IMO.  Not just that, but sandboxing 
protects your own designers from inadvertently trashing something if 
they're trying to make an edit on a live world (e.g. in an MMOG).

> All that aside, I do believe there are some C-syntax scripting

> ideas, Battlefield 1942 uses a "scripting" language that is really
> more along the lines of a gameplay balancing dataset.  

Well, there's the whole data-driven vs. procedural argument, but I 
don't think we have time to get into THAT one again here...

> I'm just not significantly compelled to go beyond dynamic library-
> based extendability for the time being.  

I felt the same way, but for the particular problem domain I'm working 
in, I specifically need reloadable code, sandboxing and ease of use.

Brian