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Howto:Start core development: Difference between revisions
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→Coding but not in C++ (scripting)
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== Coding but not in C++ (scripting) == | == Coding but not in C++ (scripting) == | ||
If you are definitely interested in coding, but not in building FlightGear from source, you may want to look into [[Nasal]] programming instead, which is FlightGear's built in scripting language, and doesn't require anything besides FlightGear itself. | If you are definitely interested in coding, but not in building FlightGear from source (C++), you may want to look into [[Nasal]] programming instead, which is FlightGear's built in scripting language, and doesn't require anything besides FlightGear itself. | ||
Many new ideas or features won't require any modifications to the C++ source code at all. | Many new ideas or features won't require any modifications to the C++ source code at all. | ||
You could probably get started and implement many ideas without even touching an IDE or a compiler for quite a while. | You could probably get started and implement many ideas without even touching an IDE or a compiler for quite a while. | ||
That might actually be the easiest route for you to proceed in the beginning. Programming knowledge would obviously still be useful, because Nasal scripting is "real programming", many programming concepts you'll encounter in Nasal will seem familiar to people with previous programming experience. | That might actually be the easiest route for you to proceed in the beginning. Programming knowledge would obviously still be useful, because Nasal scripting is "real programming", many programming concepts (loops, functions, classes, events etc) you'll encounter in Nasal will seem familiar to people with previous programming experience. | ||
The "Nasal" programming language built into FG is syntactically very close to C and C++ - so you could run your own code inside FG without having to build FG from source, no need for compilers or an IDE. FlightGear IS the run time environment for Nasal code. | The "Nasal" programming language built into FG is syntactically very close to C and C++, it looks a lot like JavaScript - so you could run your own code inside FG without having to build FG from source, no need for compilers or an IDE. FlightGear IS the run time environment for Nasal code. | ||
If you are looking for immediate results, Nasal is probably the most promising route - simply because you don't need to look into all the tedious, non-coding related issues. | If you are looking for immediate results, Nasal is probably the most promising route - simply because you don't need to look into all the tedious, non-coding related issues. | ||
For example, the tutorial system built into FG is entirely implemented in scripting space, and fully XML-configurable: | For example, the tutorial system built into FG is entirely implemented in scripting space, and fully XML-configurable: [[Tutorials]] | ||
This means that you can create/modify and improve tutorials just by editing plain text files. | This means that you can create/modify and improve tutorials just by editing plain text files with any conventional text editor. | ||
There are many more things possible using Nasal, just see the wiki. | There are many more things possible using Nasal, just see the wiki. | ||