As far as I can figure out, MushClient can be scripted in Lua, Perl, VBScript, JScript and Python, and that Python is the fastest.

However, which of these 5 languages is most useful assuming I want to do something with the language besides script for playing muds after I learn it?

Eg. I can use JScript in websites, I _think_ I can use Perl too, but the other 3?

You can script in more languages than this, but not all of them are available by default. Even Python needs to be installed before it will work.

Lua is built-in to MUSHclient, so it'll work even in Linux (under WINE) without any problems. I find Lua to be quite fast, but the others aren't really slow, either. Comparing the languages to one another, Lua is fast because it is integrated directly via the C++ code, with no intermediate linking required. Python's cool because it allows you to do things with strings, lists, classes, functions, etc that you can't do easily in a language like Lua, which is all table-based and emulates classes, strings, arrays, etc.

Thanks!

Now if I just had more idea of what you're talking about...

*goes back to staring at tutorials and long lists of downloads* Somehow, the scripts I've seen on this forum don't look half as complicated as the ones on the tutorials.

Maybe I'll just stick to JScript. At least I know I don't have to download anything for it to work.

I'm writing a big, huge, complicated set of scripts in Lua. I know it's probably overkill, but I'm having fun. My goal is to have a set of base functionality in plugins and scripts that I can use for any IRE game (specifically Lusternia and Achaea, since I play those) and then have more plugins and scripts for the specifics of each game.

Making all the darned triggers is the hardest part, and using others' triggers isn't an option for me. I'm too retentive for that.

When I actually coded for MUSHclient, I used to love JScript. I could do quite a few spiffy things with it that made life so much easier.. like, in the old hack'n'slash muds i played, I used to have it set so that if my shield got disarmed X number of times, to instead dual wield, and then, the opposite, if I took X hits per round, to go to a single-wield and then wear a shield. I know you can do all that stuff in other languages, but I just found it very very easy in JScript.. but that could just be because I was so familiar with it.

Cool people use Perl. Anything else is just text on your screen.

I don't like VBscript. The language always seems a bit retarded and annoying to me. Things seem much simpler and convenient in Perl and Php. However if you're wanting to integrate M$ Winblows features, it's probably the best at that since it's an M$ language. Also, scripts in other languages such as Perl or Python are much more likely to be supported on other platforms (ie Linux, Apple, etc).

As far as Jscript is concerned, I'm a bit cautious about developing with anything related to Java. I like the ideals behind Java, however outside of web utilities it always seems quite bloated and honky if you know what I mean. If you have alternative other than Java based languages, I'd go with them 9 times out of 10.

Actually I think I'd be interested in learning Python. I've heard a lot of good things about it. However I already know 10+ languages, Kmuddy's primary developer uses the Perl integration, and I already have 3 O'Reilly books on Perl. Someday though I'm curious to mess around with Python.

If I want to learn a specific one of the programming languages in MUSHclient, which one should I go for? Preferably, one which I could find a lot of documentation and tutorials on. Thanks.

Python would be my choice, in fact its my choice as a way to teach people to program properly, its alround a good language.

Ohh, just having a look at PerlScript, it seems to look a lot like PHP -- and I know a bit of PHP.

Actually, PHP looks a lot like Perl (Perl came first ).

If you're wanting a language that's well documented (ie free docs on the web and not books you have to pay for) your best option is going with Python or Perl. Since they're open-source (or at least freely distributable, in the case of Python) you'll find A LOT more information on the web. The two languages respective homepages have tons of documentation and are good places to start: perl.org and python.org.

If you're interested in purchasing some books on them, I'm a huge O'Reilly fan (http://www.oreilly.com). They produce THE best computer books. For Perl I'd recommend "Programming Perl", by Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, and Jon Orwant. I havn't purchased any Python books yet, but I know O'Reilly has produced quite a few.

There's an entire "open source" book online for Lua programming, which I am finding extremely helpful in my own MUSHclient programming.

Also, if you know some PHP, you can go ahead and use PHPscript with MUSHclient.

Ooh, PHPscript, I just noticed that. Meh, I can't get it working though...

Where can you find that online book for Lua? I'll check http://www.lua.com (.org?) now.

EDIT: http://www.lua.org

The book is available at http://www.lua.org/pil/ (Programming in Lua).

If you want to try PHPscript, you may need to download it and install it. Just make sure you install a version that's compatible with WSH (Windows Scripting Host).

Where is a site I can download PHPscript from? It's probably from PHP.NET, but I don't know exactly what to download.

Download and install whatever version of PHP you want to use, and then go to the PECL repository and download the extension DLL for PHPscript (php5activescript.dll) and install that, too.

http://snaps.php.net/