Scripting

Introduction of scripting

One of the more daunting challenges for novice SL content creators is learning how to script using the Linden Scripting Language (LSL). This page provides links to both text and video tutorials; and, at the bottom of this page, to repositories of free ready-made scripts; but maybe a great place to start would be by attending one of the regular in-world classes. You can find current and upcoming classes by clicking the Search button, selecting the Events tab, and entering ‘scripting’ as your search term:

But you’ll in any case want to consolidate what you’ve learned with some additional tutorials and reference documents. The following resources are recommended:

• the Eclipse IDE with the LSL Plus plugin (see my more extensive tutorial).
  » http://www.eclipse.org
  You can also download further plugins for Eclipse from the following repositories:
  Eclipse Plugins
  » http://eclipse-plugins.info/eclipse/plugins.jsp
  Eclipse Plugin Central
  » http://eclipseplugincentral.com
• or you can use a dedicated LSL editor such as: LSL-Editor
  “… a standalone LSL (Secondlife) script editor and run-time environment for Windows [that] compiles and executes LSL scripts. No SecondLife viewer is needed nor connection to the SecondLife grid.”
  » http://www.lsleditor.org
• Second Life LSL Portal
  A portal to numerous useful tutorials.
  » http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL_Portal
  » http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/GettingStartedInLSL
  and free scripts:
  » http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL_Library
• Linden Script Tutorial Exhibition (Bromley College)
  » http://slurl.com/secondlife/Daydream%20SE%20Islands/206/40
  … and, on the web:
  Linden Script Tutorial (blog)
  “This weblog is an account of the development of Bromley College’s interactive Linden Scripting Language tutorial that is available in-world in Second Life.”
  » http://ce.bromley.ac.uk/lsl/blogger.html
• LSLwiki
  Extensive tutorials and examples
  » http://www.lslwiki.net/lslwiki/wakka.php
• College of Scripting, Music, and Science
  A useful location for learning most of the basics of SL; but also a really good resource for elementary scripting tutorials, with clear graphical explanations. Start at the Level 1 Beginner Scripting sign and work your way to the right, following the blue arrows on the floor. (Also many ready-made (purchasable) scripts for those too timid to write their own.)
  » http://slurl.com/secondlife/Horsa/55/210/84
• ‘Using the Linden Script Language’
  Gentle introduction to scripting, together with some examples. Very useful for the beginner.
  » http://www.kan-ed.org/second-life/using-LSL.html
• ‘Using the Linden Scripting Language’
  An in-depth 8-page tutorial from Dr Dobb’s High Performance Computing series, authored by Michael Rymaszewski, Wagner James Au, Mark Wallace, Catherine Winters, Cory Ondrejka, and Benjamin Batstone-Cunningham.
  » http://www.ddj.com/hpc-high-performance-computing/197008520
• ‘SL Scripting Guide’ at 2lifeblog.com
  » http://www.2lifeblog.com/content/blogsection/13/72/3/0/
• ‘Open Source Scripting’ group (Second Life) wiki
  Scripts and projects include Pandora Chatbot, a chatbot that connects to an ALICE/AIML website.
  » http://www.sparticarroll.com
• ‘Getting started in LSL scripting in Second Life’
  Entry level tutorial from Instructables.com
  » http://www.instructables.com/id/Getting-started-in-LSL-scripting-in-Second-Life/
• Marcus Endicott’s Second Life Travel Guide
  As its name suggests, this site is packed with more than just scripts. The scripts page itself is useful listing of links to scripts for common tasks as well as to other script repositories.
  » http://www.mendicott.com/secondlife/slscripts.asp
• SecondLife HowTo
  Although “An Unofficial Step By Step Guide to Content Creation in Second Life”, most of the tutorial and guides relate to scripting in one way or another … ‘HowTo Create a Networked Vending Machine’, ‘HowTo Connect a Second Life script to a mysql database’, ‘HowTo Make XMLRPC calls to an in-world object’, …
  » http://secondlifehowto.com

You’ll also find it helpful to watch the following YouTube videos:

[1] ‘An Overview of Scripting in Second Life’ by Preston Straff. No more than a mere glimpse of code in this one, though a clear explanation of how LSL works with states and events.

[2] Rather whimsical, but a beautifully clear tutorial, is the follwing walkthrough of how to create a ‘Dance Animation’.

Some online repositories of ready-made scripts

SL Scripts at Wo0hoo
» http://www.secondlife.wo0hoo.com/sl-scripts/

Free SL Scripts at Gendersquare.org
» http://www.gendersquare.org/sl/