Scripting Your World: The Official Guide to Second Life Scripting (Paperback)

~ (Author), (Author), Dr. Karen Haigh (Author)
Key Phrases: dead leaf, beta grid, receiving object, Second Life, Linden Lab, Scripting Your World (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Find complete information about Second Life scripting and gain access to more than 50 previously unpublished ready-to-use scripts in Scripting Your World: The Official Guide to Second Life Scripting.  Learn how to script Second Life behaviors, grouped into categories like avatar movement, communications, prim and object control, automation, land control, combat, special effects, environment control and physics, and interacting with the world outside of Second Life.  After you read this engaging book, you will possess a solid understanding Linden Scripting Language conventions.

From the Back Cover

Your second life is how you script it

Scripting is the spice of Second Life, and this official guide to the Linden Scripting Language (LSL) is the complete scripting resource for making your Second Life creations come to life, interacting with players, creating dazzling special effects, and adding realism to the virtual world. The authors are an expert team of programmers who cover every single aspect of LSL, from the basics of avatar movement and communication, to physics and special effects, to interacting with the world outside of Second Life.

This thorough reference and tutorial features detailed walk-throughs and step-by-steps that teach the "why" of scripting while explaining core LSL conventions. It includes more than 50 exclusive, brand-new custom scripts that you can use and modify right now. Make doors open automatically, put a message in a bottle and watch it float out to sea, create a tip jar, and start a storm complete with loud thunderclaps and flashing lightning.

• Understand the Linden Scripting Language: Master every aspect of Second Life's programming language

• Automate with scripts: Greet visitors by name, teleport around the world, and dance with a partner

• Learn physics and vehicles: Create a jet pack, a magic carpet, and a machine gun

• Use environmental controls: Create moving shadows, make water splash, and have bees flit from flower to flower

• Integrate multimedia: Dazzle residents with streaming TV and ambient soundscapes

• Incorporate the outside world: Build a live news ticker and send e-mail

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Sybex (September 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470339837
• ISBN-13: 978-0470339831
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #33,321 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All the scripting help I wish I had at the start of my Second Life, December 2, 2008

By	Timeless Prototype (UK) - See all my reviews

Aesthetically, I personally found this book is very well laid out, colourful and easy on the eyes. It contains many screenshots and even explanatory diagrams. The structure allows the advanced LSL scripter to scan read to use the book as a decent reference and is complete with keyword indexes in the appendices. All levels of LSL scripters will enjoy the side notes on many pages that explain the aspects being discussed in more detail and gives build notes and useful tips.

The content of the book itself starts with a decent introduction to the LSL scripting language. It gives seasoned programmers the information they need to get started and yet at the same time provides detailed explanations of the syntax for beginners to begin to understand.

The book goes on to cover many various examples with detailed explanations, achieving what I feel is a nice balance with the amount of example code to theory. To take one chapter as an example, it explains the settings of vehicle parameters, handling input controls from the user and setting the position and rotation of the viewer's camera plus example code to get started with. It is enough to get going on scripting a vehicle in LSL. Advancements in this area would come from experimentation by the LSL scripter herself and by reading the book's tabulated explanations of all the vehicle parameters and functions. The side notes in this chapter include a useful time-saving warning when combining two of the mechanisms for moving objects and also a note on other scripts to look out for in world and even a link to a wiki that hosts complete sailboat scripts.

What I particularly enjoyed about the book was discovering how others have used LSL scripting. I'd fully expect this book to inspire the LSL scripter into creating something that they may not have tried without having had the book to explain the workflow to them.

Overall, a very respectable and professional book. I'm very pleased with the copy I have.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Help for this Hacker!, January 16, 2009

By	MeAm Okelly - See all my reviews

This book helped me a lot in my struggle with Lindens Script Language. The first Chapter is a good review of the language. The next chapters demonstrate how and where to use scripts. Explanations of the examples include object-building instructions. I have used many of the example scripts, which are available in Second Life. For a "hacker" like me who lacks the patience to really study the language rules - this is a perfect resource!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Source Book, May 15, 2009

By	J. graber - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is an excellent guide to scripting. I was able to figure out how to script shapes very effectively. It is a well designed and laid out book. Another feature is the enthusiasm of the authors. They are responsive to emails and post other material on their web site.

BUY this BOOK!