Introduction to Linden Scripting Language for Second Life [Paperback]

Jeff Heaton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 17, 2007 | ISBN-10: 1604390042 | ISBN-13: 978-1604390049 | Edition: 1ST

The Linden Scripting Language allows residents of the Second Life World to program the three dimensional objects around them. Without this programming objects built in Second Life are motionless and non-interactive. Adding a script enables an object to interact with the world around it. Second Life scripts allow objects such as cars, planes, amusement park rides, weapons and other entertainment devices to be created. This book teaches the beginning Second Life programmer to make use of the basics of the Linden Scripting Language. Language fundamentals, such as variables, loops, lists, events, functions and state machines are covered. The book then moves to more advanced topics such as user interaction and non-physical movement. Later chapters show how to use the Second Life physics engine to create vehicles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: Heaton Research, Inc.; 1ST edition (December 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1604390042
• ISBN-13: 978-1604390049
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #621,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeff Heaton is an author, consultant, artificial intelligence (AI) researcher and former college instructor. Heaton has penned more than a dozen books on topics including AI, virtual worlds, spiders and bots. Heaton leads the Encog project, an open source initiative to provide an advanced neural network and bot framework for Java and C#. A Sun Certified Java Programmer and a Senior Member of the IEEE, he holds a Masters Degree in Information Management from Washington University in St. Louis. Heaton lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I review from someone who programs in C++ and other languages, February 2, 2009

By 

R. Odbert (Nirvana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Introduction to Linden Scripting Language for Second Life (Paperback)

As soon as I saw the words, "(this) is beyond the scope of this book", I knew it was not going to be a very good book. To me, that is a just a way of saying I am too lazy to at least refer you to a source to learn more about (this). And it has proven itself to be true. The book is written by using examples and they do not address the concepts that you will encounter. There are many options in dealing with writing scripts in SL that are not mentioned. The illustrations are in black and white, yet the author refers to the colors on them. The functions they give in the examples pass variables, yet no mention is given to what they are and how they are used. The book is filled with trivialities, no references to further information sources, and has no real organization. The only positive thing I can say is that it is a fast read. I finished it in one sitting, which should be the case for the average reader. Since so much in SL is a commercial venture, I can see why they wrote it. They will lead you to their SL location and there you can spend even more than this book costs.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Power to the people, September 11, 2009

By 

James Dawson DeViney - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Introduction to Linden Scripting Language for Second Life (Paperback)

This book is easy to understand for anyone that has a basic knowledge of computer languages. It walks you through the processes of how to make your own scripts for Second Life using the LSL language. It proves that the writer had thought everything that he or she was going to write about before hand and the scripts they where going to use before organizing the contents in this book. If your a Second Life fanatic and your looking for a good book to teach you how to do the dreaded and all powerful skill of scripting, I recommend this book.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolute intro to LLScripts, October 1, 2008

By 

Michael T. Lybarger - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Introduction to Linden Scripting Language for Second Life (Paperback)

This book is an absolute intro to Linden Scripts. The author uses the classic presentation technique of 1) Tell your audience what you are going to tell them; 2) Tell it to your audience; followed by 3) Tell your audience what you told them. If you have ever had to do a presentation to an audience, you understand what I mean.

If you think you wish to write code in Linden Scripting Language, this book gives you a very clear, easy to grasp understanding of the basic structure of the language, the method of approach to writing code, and simple but easy to follow examples.

The approach in this book may seem a bit too simple to those with extensive programming experience. But, that serves to make it a quick read for you so you can jump right into coding. For those new to programming, the approach in this book is much easier to understand than many "introductions" I've read.

The book will not make you an expert Linden Script programmer. Only practice and experience will do that. But it helps you get into the right frame of mind to understand how to view a coding problem to make it work in-life.

While you can find this information online, the book has one significant advantage. It is written text with an index. You can underline, bookmark, circle, highlight and write margin notes (it even has blank pages for your own notes) and you can use it with no electricity or web connection. That means you can read it in a doctor's waiting room, on the bus, a train, in a car (as a passenger), or in your own "library" (don't ask).

See you inlife.