effecient software engineering

[Aaron]

I read that scripting is very useful in software engineering. I
picked up some video game programming books and they mention that
scripting can be used to seperate the code that is likely to change
from the core game engine.

I have heard that Perl is widely used in the game programming
industry. Can perl scripting used for this? If not, what is it used
for? If it is used for this, how does Perl communicate with the main
game engine? Can some one explain how this works? For example: are
there two executables that run and communicate back and forth, or is
there only one executable? Is there a Perl interpreter that reads in
scripts into your main program?

 

[Sara]

I read that scripting is very useful in software engineering. I
picked up some video game programming books and they mention that
scripting can be used to seperate the code that is likely to change
from the core game engine.

I have heard that Perl is widely used in the game programming
industry. Can perl scripting used for this? If not, what is it used
for? If it is used for this, how does Perl communicate with the main
game engine? Can some one explain how this works? For example: are
there two executables that run and communicate back and forth, or is
there only one executable? Is there a Perl interpreter that reads in
scripts into your main program?

Listen dude I'm not one to say "read the FQA" or "don't post there
here" because basically I believe in Free Speech, and there are more
than enough of those parrots here, but in your case I have to make an
exception. Try

http://www.perl.com

for starters. There are lots of Perl stories and anecdotal uses for
perl. perl.org/advocacy is usually pretty good too but it appears to
have either been hacked or some jolly joker is pranking us right now
over there.

Your question is sort of like writing to General Motors and saying
"I've heard these cars of yours are useful for driving to the grocery
store. What other uses do they have?". Sort of a tough question to
really answer isn't it?

Happy Holodaze!

 

[James Willmore]

On 23 Dec 2003 23:08:14 -0800

I read that scripting is very useful in software engineering. I
picked up some video game programming books and they mention that
scripting can be used to seperate the code that is likely to change
from the core game engine.

I have heard that Perl is widely used in the game programming
industry. Can perl scripting used for this? If not, what is it used
for? If it is used for this, how does Perl communicate with the
main game engine? Can some one explain how this works? For example:
are there two executables that run and communicate back and forth,
or is there only one executable? Is there a Perl interpreter that
reads in scripts into your main program?

What *exactly* are you looking to do? Are you just trying to get a
feel for the capabilities of Perl? If that's the case, go to
http://www.perl.com/ and start reading

You *may* want to read perlembed (if you have Perl installed, then
just type 'perldoc perlembed' at the command line to get this document
- if not, visit http://perldoc.com). This may be what you're after.
It's a way to embed Perl code in your C application - if I understand
your post. This also *assumes* that you know C You could also
check out SWIG (http://www.swig.org/), which will also allow you to
"connect" Perl code with a C/C++ application.

If this isn't anything you're looking for, post with more specifics


HTH

--
Jim

Copyright notice: all code written by the author in this post is
released under the GPL. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt
for more information.

a fortune quote ...
Speak softly and carry a +6 two-handed sword.

 

[Aaron]

On 23 Dec 2003 23:08:14 -0800


What *exactly* are you looking to do? Are you just trying to get a
feel for the capabilities of Perl? If that's the case, go to
http://www.perl.com/ and start reading

You *may* want to read perlembed (if you have Perl installed, then
just type 'perldoc perlembed' at the command line to get this document
- if not, visit http://perldoc.com). This may be what you're after.
It's a way to embed Perl code in your C application - if I understand
your post. This also *assumes* that you know C You could also
check out SWIG (http://www.swig.org/), which will also allow you to
"connect" Perl code with a C/C++ application.

If this isn't anything you're looking for, post with more specifics


HTH

--
Jim

Copyright notice: all code written by the author in this post is
released under the GPL. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt
for more information.

a fortune quote ...
Speak softly and carry a +6 two-handed sword.

Thanks man, the swig documentation is very helpful. I guess my post
wasn't really descriptive of what I needed. I am looking to connect
Perl to C++. I talked to someone who programs for a gaming company
and he told me, "It's good to know perl scripting." I've been going
from book and website to website looking for appropriate uses of perl
in the game coding buisness. I haven't really come across anything
that relates to perl. The closest thing I found was a description of
how scripting, in general, can be useful. It read, for example, if
you want to change a bitmap in the game, instead of having a
programmer go in and change the name of the bmp file in the code, you
can have a script do this and save the programmer some time. It's an
effective way to seperate code that changes alot from the complicated
logic that makes up the game engine. It also modularizes the code.
Then I found an example of a very basic scripting engine that
implements a few functions of 80x86 assembly language (along with some
functions that imported other functions written in the main game
engine) and uses it to program a "Ponglike" game. The example went
from the design of the scripting language to the implementation of a
compiler for the scripting language. My original question was, "can a
perl script be used to write code that works like this engine?" I
know it is a fundamental question.
I read some on the swig and I'm going to go browsing through some
stuff on www.perl.com. As soon as I get to my home computer I will
check out the perlembed. Thank you very much for responding to my
message!
Aaron