Game Development : Harder than you think.

[Jeff]

So one comment Cas.  I've written a lot of scripting languages in my day. Its actually something i enjoy.

Within a limited domain space yes a high level scripting language can be VERY effective.  However the "spurious syntax" you pointed to in Java IMO becomes VITAL syntax when you try to do arbitrarily complex things.

What Java gives IMO that scripting languages don't and can't is a way to better manage the complexity of *general purpose* programming.

For programs of a small size and narrow scope, ofcourse the scripting language will always be easier because it is designed to just do that one thing and do it well.

After all the EASIEST language to script your game in would have one, very high level command

DoThisParticularGameNow()



Unfortunately its domain is rather limited

[princec]

I've never said that I wanted a language that was less general purpose than Java - I want a language that's easier to read and write and understand and that hides all the unnecessarily complex syntax away under higher level constructs. I'd rather see

1	for i = 1 to 10 step 2

than

1	for (int i = 0; i < 10; i += 2)

f'rinstance. Because the code can be read aloud and actually makes sense in English.

Cas

[cfmdobbie]

But that is less general-purpose, as that form will only work for that particular usage of a for construct.  BASIC-style for loops are only good for one thing - iterating one value over a specific range of numbers by means of simple addition or subtraction.  The moment you deviate, you have to resort to a while loop with a load of book-keeping code to make it work, and readability goes right out the window.

Edit: Oh, and FWIW I find for-loops very easy to read - I just automatically tag in a couple of extra words in my head, and it makes perfect sense: int i equals 0, while i is-less-than 10, i plus-equals 2.

Edit: typo

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[Jeff]

To some degree this is the Wirthian/Ritchian religous debate.

I happen to be a Wirthian myself but I accept with resignation that the Ritchian syntax approach has won.  Had Java had a Wirthian syntax (eg pascal, modula2) history shows its adoption curve would have been a lot slower.