Coding and Script help.

Rokker

Hi all, I am brand new to Muds and have little to no experience with coding and script writing. I am interested in learning a little bit but honestly its all a bit overwhelming. Any recommendations on where to start?  

As a side note, I downloaded mudlet to try it out and quickly stopped using it. I was very lost, so I figure I should learn how a little coding to help myself out.

Dochitha

First thing first, encouragement! I have no coding background at all. Achaea made me at least know how to code, and also makes me interests in coding. Achaea is the only place I get a chance to code. After all the learning and still learning, Now I am so automated. Glad you have intention to start learning, tell you what, it is damn fulfilling. 

Antonius

Starting point: Pick a client. You mentioned that you stopped using Mudlet because you were lost, so I'll assume you're using the Nexus client from the website right now.

Nexus has a "simplified scripting" drag and drop-type editor for very simple scripts, but underlying code is written in JavaScript. Positives: There's a lot of documentation on the JavaScript language (and a lot of it is actually really good, too). Negatives: I don't know many people who are using Nexus, so I really have no idea how easy it is to get help with client-specific parts.

Mudlet can be pretty confusing when you first start out. The code is written in Lua. Positives: Most people I know use Mudlet, so it's easy to get support. Reasonably good documentation for both Mudlet itself and the Lua language. Negatives: No built-in GUI so you'd have to either download and install one made by somebody else or make your own. No simplified scripting tools.

Both clients should have clans in-game which you can join to get help with them; CLHELP NEXUS and CLHELP MUDLET. Mudlet also has an introductory guide on making basic aliases and such: https://wiki.mudlet.org/w/Manual:Introduction I don't know if Nexus has something similar.

Solnir

You said you're new, so I'm just going to point out that @Antonius has been playing this game for quite awhile and IIRC he also works IRL in coding, so his advise is golden, hang on to his every word.

Rokker

Antonius I am using the Nexus client right now but After reading how customizable mudlet is I want to try it. That Wiki page will be a lot of help. I don't know what Lua is but I'm sure with google I can fumble my way through it. I really just needed a starting point. Thank you. 

Antonius

Lua is the scripting language that Mudlet uses. When you're creating a script or an alias or a trigger in Mudlet, you're usually writing some amount of Lua code when telling Mudlet what it is you actually want it to do. Even if you're simply doing send("some command") that's Lua code; send is a Lua function that (as you may have guessed from the name) sends the given command to the game.

The Mudlet wiki is a great resource for learning about Lua specifically for Mudlet, since it covers all of the Mudlet-only Lua functions (things like sending commands to the game, manipulating the output text, etc.) Other than that, I usually use the lua-users wiki (http://lua-users.org/wiki/TablesTutorial) and the online edition of the "Programming in Lua" book (https://www.lua.org/pil/contents.html) as reference points. Googling "lua <whatever you want to know about>" or "mudlet <whatever you want to know about>" should generally return useful results, too.

Vadimuses

And to start customising the interface, copy/paste examples from https://wiki.mudlet.org/w/Manual:Geyser and play around with them!

Rokker

Looks like I have some reading to do this evening.

Cailin

I also didn't know anything about coding before I started. I ran into some problems with Nexus, so I finally made the leap into Mudlet. It did take a couple hours to set up, with the help of some very awesome and patient people. But now that I'm past that initial point - I love it. I love coding, and I love making my own (simple) stuff. 

I would personally recommend using Zulah's gui (it's here on the forums) and svof - if you decide to go with mudlet. That's my preference anyways. A lot easier than building your own gui and stuff.