Arcadia's Scripts

[Koshari Mahana]

Logically considered, LsL should have been designed to be the easiest-to-use language ever. Considering who would be using it (newbies in virtual environments), what it would be used for (absolutely everything), and the fact that the majority of users / residents would have little or no prior coding experience...

It's all way above my head. I don't think I'll ever understand scripts, even the ones that other people say are easy are like a foreign language to me.

[Snoots Dwagon]

Koshari, here's the bottom-line rule of thumb when it comes to scripting:

Learn it if one must, but keep aspirin or booze nearby.

[Koshari Mahana]

The way to get a predictable link order, is to select the parts one by one but not link anything until you've selected them all. If you do it that way, the first object you selected will have the highest link number, the second one you selected will have the second highest link number etc.

I'm inclined to consider the lack of a linkset sorting function a bug, not just a flaw. Phillip Linden actually went way beyond that; the once said that the biggest mistake LL made when they developed SL was to not include hierarchical linking and that's linkset management quite a few levels higher than a simple listing/sorting function.

The workaround is of course well known to all reasonably experienced scripters: Don't use link number as an identifier unless you are absolutely sure the linkset will never ever be relinked. That works of course but it seriously limits what should have been a very useful LSL/OSL function.

Thanks Tess! I agree, linking order is inferior to just naming the prims, which is what I'm actually used to. I totally forget to even look in the scripts to see if there is a link number assignment. But the Arcadia items are old scripts. They were also created for SL, not for OS so that's probably part of the problem too.

[John Mela]

Now here is something that further confuses the issue. Look at this modification of your script John:

Code: Select all

integer b;

default{

touch_start(integer a){
b = FALSE;
if (b = TRUE) { llOwnerSay("TRUE!"); }

b=TRUE;
if(b = FALSE) { llOwnerSay("FALSE!"); }

}
}

When this is run, it says TRUE! But the "reverse" logic doesn't say false.

Yes, because the second condition returns the new value of b, which is FALSE, so the condition evaluates as false and the statement isn't printed.

So my newly-formed rule of thumb (which I've used for years in LsL anyway):
Always use == within decision parameters.
Outside of decision parameters use =.

Keeping the two completely separated would seem the smart way to code. Do you agree, or are there other things to consider? Because this whole ball of wax now has me truly curious. ;D

There's nothing wrong with using = inside a condition, as long as you know how it works. Then again, if you don't do that you're not missing out on much, so do whatever you're comfortable with.

[Tess Juel]

There's nothing wrong with using = inside a condition, as long as you know how it works. Then again, if you don't do that you're not missing out on much, so do whatever you're comfortable with.

Code: Select all

integer UseSingleEqualSignInIfComparasions;
if(KnowHowItWorks==TRUE && PlayItSafe==FALSE){
	UseSingleEqualSignInIfComparasions=TRUE;
}
else{
	UseSingleEqualSignInIfComparasions=FALSE;
}

Simpler code:

Code: Select all

integer UseSingleEqualSignInIfComparasions=KnowHowItWorks;

I got a bit curious about this script since it's obviously not by Aley herself or macarp, her main scripter. It turns out it was by somebody I've never heard of before and who doesn't mention scripting in his profile. So I suppose the issues here were all caused by inexperience.

[Christine Nyn]

got a bit curious about this script since it's obviously not by Aley herself or macarp, her main scripter. It turns out it was by somebody I've never heard of before and who doesn't mention scripting in his profile. So I suppose the issues here were all caused by inexperience.

There are some Arcadia OARs available where the included scripts are sometimes incomplete or don't work for some reason. I'm particularly thinking of the Script Library OAR here. I think it's entirely possible that when you consider the sheer volume of material under the Arcadia banner some stuff has slipped through the debugging process. It's still an excellent resource though for people looking to get a world up and running fairly quickly.

[Tess Juel]

There are some Arcadia OARs available where the included scripts are sometimes incomplete or don't work for some reason. I'm particularly thinking of the Script Library OAR here.

Are you sure you're thinking of Aley/Arcadia and not Linda Kellie here? Arcadia wasn't a scripter, although she could write some basic scripts, and since she only worked in SL, she never made any OARs. Linda Kellie isn't a scripter either but she did compile a large collection of public domain textures she included in some of her OARs.

[Koshari Mahana]

got a bit curious about this script since it's obviously not by Aley herself or macarp, her main scripter. It turns out it was by somebody I've never heard of before and who doesn't mention scripting in his profile. So I suppose the issues here were all caused by inexperience.

All of the scripts I've used came directly from her products that I ordered (for free) from the SL Marketplace. After I downloaded the items and copy/pasted them into Kitely. So, she did use these scripts in her products in SL assuming that she is the one who put them on the Marketplace.

See: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/de-DE/stores/161413

About the OARS: I do know that some of them are available, I imagine that's how they got into Kitely and OS. I was told that the scripts didn't import with them. Even so, I don't know how to import an OAR into my 64x64 region without messing things up. Is it possible?

[Tess Juel]

Hi Koshari,

You can't add an OAR file into a world without losing its contents as you can only replace the world with the contents of an OAR file. You can, however, create a new Starter World, use that to upload the OAR files you want, then delete it once you're done. Since our prices are pro-rated based on the remaining number of days in the month, you'll be able to do this for less than the full price of a Starter World if you create it later in the month. Just make sure to delete that world before the month is over so you won't be charged its full price on the following month.

[Tess Juel]

So, she did use these scripts in her products in SL assuming that she is the one who put them on the Marketplace.

Yes and no. AleyMart on MP was set up by the owners of the Arcadia Asylum Museum group after she was forced to leave SL and her own MP store was closed. The group and its inworld stores (all full perm freebies of course) were created with her blessing and assistance and although she wasn't around when the Aleymart MP store was created, there's no doubt she would have approved. She always gave away her works free and full perm, the only condition was that you never sell any of it. Giving away is fine but never charge anybody for her works. (Later she modified this and said it was fine to sell if you had made significant modifcations and contributed something to it yourself.)

Aley never worked alone and she used lots of textures, sculpt maps, scripts and animations by others in her builds. Sometimes it was public domain content, sometimes content made specially for her by some of her many friends (such as this script). Unfortunately she also sometimes used textures and sculpt maps that weren't supposed to be for free. She never did it on purpose and always tried to correct those mistakes when she became aware of them. But a couple of such cases came up while she was away from SL and when she eventually tried to return she found she had been permabanned. She did manage to log on with an old secret alt to contact some of her closest friends and she did turn up briefly on the OS grid but as far as I know, that's the last anybody has heard from her. I've been told by somebody who usually knows what they are talking about that she's logged off from RL too now but I don't know of any way to confirm this.

Aley never built for opensim and never made any OARs but other people certainly included her works in their OARs, the best known is perhaps the Stormhaven pirate town, an OAR made by Han Held using only works by Aley.

If you want all of her works in SL, I suggest you go to one of the inworld Arcadia Asylum museums rather than to Aleymart. It's exactly the same content but it should be faster to grab it from the vendors there than to fill up your MP shopping cart over and over again.

However, if you want to use it on Kitely, I suggest you fetch the uploads that are already here on the hypergrid rather than reupload yourself. Everything she made have been uploaded to the hypergrid multiple times already and there's no need to burden the assets servers with more duplicate uploads than neccessary. If you can't find it elsewhere, contact me inworld. I managed to grab copies of everything from Jim Jackson's Arcadia Asylum store shortly before he closed his sims an I think his uploads are complete (even including the African Slum build that isn't really by our Aley).

Arcadia Asylum, Lora Lemon, Alei Arai and Aley Resident in SL were all alts of the same person, she had a habit of quitting SL in rage and return with a brand new account and a brand new great project. Her first big build, the Slum City at Calleta is still intact, her last, the 13 sim Blake Diego-Fancy Deep pirate/mermaid build has been slowly dismantled but parts of it is still there. The rest of her big builds are gone although the cotnent is still here.

There was an Arcadia Asylum on OS grid who made a lovely build called African Slum. There has been speculations that was the same person as the SL Arcadia/Aley but it wasn't. (Aley herself sometimes claimed it was her build, sometimes she denied it but the style is so different there's no real doubt.)