Scripting Recipes for Second Life (ISBN 160439000X) was penned by noted computing author Jeff Heaton. Heaton has written more than 10 computing manuals on subjects from C++ and Java programming to artificial intelligence to how to build a computer. The 364-page book went on sale at most online booksellers, on August 1, for $24.95.
On its website, Second Life is described as “a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its Residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by (more than 8 million) residents from around the globe.” Second Life is a giant computer game in which the players create the computer game, building virtual houses and businesses. Second Life even has its own currency, known as Linden dollars. Linden Research created the game and maintains god-like powers over the playing of the game.
The game has a Utopian flavor, as players have the power to fly, and all forms of discrimination are explicitly forbidden, and are grounds for permanent “banishment” from the game.
Linden Research also developed Linden Scripting Language (LSL). It is the computer language, along with an assortment of 3D building blocks, with which players create their homes, businesses, and vehicles and change the appearance of their virtual bodies.
Jeff Heaton’s book, Scripting Recipes for Second Life, is a resource guide aimed at speeding-up a player’s development of a wide range of creations, from virtual helicopters to guns, from virtual jewelry to tip jars on the service counters of their businesses.
In compiling the book, Heaton drew on tips and tricks from hundreds of peers through the heavily-trafficked http://www.heatonresearch.com/. The book includes sample scripts, which can be used as is, or which can easily be modified.
