Re: Scripting

[Jorrit Tyberghein <Jorrit.Tyberghein@uz.kuleuven.ac.be>]

Steve Baker wrote:

> I'd object to the idea that development is easier in Python/whatever than
> C++ - and once you take away that, why write slow code when for the same
> effort or less, you can have fast code?  I know a lot of Python/whatever
> enthusiasts are going to object to that view - but for me personally, it's
> CERTAINLY true.

That depends on the kind of game though. I know networked games that
plan to send game entity data over the network. And that INCLUDES
their behaviour (i.e. scripts). This is hard to do with C or C++ code.
A script is a lot easier to send because it is interpreted. So if you don't know
in advance what scripts you are going to need in a game then C or C++
is out of the question since you need a compiler to do run those scripts.
And who is going to include a C++ compiler in their game?

> There are (as far as I know) no large commercial games that are written
> in a scripting languages.  Many use scripting for AI and Scenario setup
> though.

I would also only use scripting for the following:
    - AI (but with a lot of help from a fast C++ library)
    - Behaviour of entities (this is closely related to AI but not always)
      Like: what happens if someone opens this chest.
    - Scenariou setup.

Things like physics, rendering, and so on should be done in the native
language (i.e. C++).

Greetings,

--
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Jorrit.Tyberghein@uz.kuleuven.ac.be, University Hospitals KU Leuven BELGIUM

Nanny Ogg quite liked cooking, provided there were other people around to
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