Tips for Tedious Coding

Part 1 -- Tips for Tedious Coding: An Introduction into Javascript

Have you ever had to produce tedious lines of code, or wanted to produce a cool effect, but didn't feel like writing everything out? Now, I shall unveil and easy way for the production of tedious lines of code. Yay!

Have you ever heard of javascript? Its a type of scripting language -- but heres the secret -- that is uncompiled. All you need is a text editor! So, lets open up our favorite text editor -- which I shall assume is Notepad++.

Introduction:

Now, let's type in the basic part of the script that we need:




-Line 1 states we are creating a new object.
-Line 2 states what its name shall be.
-I don't really know what Line 3 is (I'm guessing it is merely outputs untill told to stop.)


Now, lets make something we can all enjoy: SPINNING PROBES!!!!!




So, we set our variable "currentSpinSpeed" equal to one. While this variable is less than 13, we multiply it by 1.02. In the text file it will output, it will write the line "turncwise + Math.floor(1.02)" -> "turncwise 1" Can you see with Math.floor does? It takes any non-interger and round it DOWN.

Now, our code is almost done, all we need is one final line:



We tell our program to finish and close the file.


Our final code looks like:

Save the file as: probeBuildUp.js. Now click on the file and it will create probeBuildUp.txt.

*This javascript originally comes from BSTRhino. I have used it because if its simplicity -- yet stunning visual effect I luve spinning probes
-----------------------------------


Bouncing Grenades:

I have always loved this effect, and all it requires is iscript magic.




Set the current frame number.



We define a function that we will use later in the code. You probably can understand this except for a few things (if you are unfimiliar with coding santax).

'++' == add one to the variable.
'>=' == less than or equal to.



Now, for good practice, analyze that code and see if you can figure out what it means. Here are some tips:

'var1 += var2' == Variable #1 is equal to Variable #2 plus one.
'while(true)' == run this code while the output from is is a non-zero value.

Here is the overall code needed for bouncing grenades:

*Original script by BSTRhino. Why? Becuase he owns.
-----------------------------------

Application of Javascript (and in fuller understanding -- coding in general) to Effects Using Mathematics:

What I am going to create in this section is a circle of explosions that you can use as an attack or death animation for a unit. I usually use it for larger units' deaths and such.

I know Starcraft incorporates a large array of players -- from youngling to expert elder -- so, skip this section if you understand polar equations.

The equation for a circle using x and y's is Math.sqrt(x*x + y*y) = radius*radius. Writing that equation made me want to puke. Couldn't there be some easier way?

Of course there is -- its called a polar equation. the equation for a circle is simply: r = 1. For a spiral, it is r = Theta.

A Crash Course on Polor Equations:

Polar equations relate angles with radii. At the given angle, the radius will be a certian length. At the end of the radius, it will plot the point.

But how are those points found be people like you or me? By these set of equations:

x = radius * cos(theta)
y = radius * sin(theta)

(This is basic Algebra and Trig. And some Geometry I guess... O well.)

So, if we are going to use a polar equation in our javascript, we're going to need these two equations as functions:



Now, javascript uses radius, which differs from degrees.

Degrees * pi / 180 = Radians

We want our explosions to go full cicle so:



Here is our full code:
*Original Code by A_of_s_t. It is currently being used in Disunion and my mod for the Summer Modding Contest. Please give me some kudos if you use these tips in your mod.


Next up: Completely Random Atttack Sequences
Next up: Application to Triggers
Next up: Application to AI Design
Nect up: Advanced Special Attacks and Spell with Application of Polar and Parametric Equations

Post has been edited 9 time(s), last time on Mar 25 2008, 4:56 am by A_of-s_t.

Why dont we just download UltiDoom and use the provided code generators?

Anyways, this should be added into a tutorial . Good work typing this all out!

Javascript is such an ugly language considering you can do this in anything. I will grant you though that it is an interpreted language executed locally on any web browser.

Modmaster: Becuase it catches people's attention and it is very basic, that is why I used them. Duh.


It's a pretty straight forward language that I like becuase all you need is notepad to write it. The best part is that its syntax is similar to C++ and it can be used in web pages and such.

EDIT: I'll add it to the tutorials after I'm completely finished.

You only need notepad to write anything,

But with javascript, there is no need to compile.

@Syphon: Yes, but you need Java runtime environments, php installed and some other requirements for most of the other programming languages.
You can use notepad to write anything but you'll need something more than notepad to actually use it.

Strange, my computer is 4 years old and has never been connected to the internetz and it runs fine on there.

But I think this is besides the point. I used javascript mainly because I lub it (that and C++).

Same with Javascript...

Kudos for writing this out, but just about anything here can be done with the language IceCC uses...and if not you can come very close. The "no compiling" is extremely tempting though.
OFC if I learn Javascript in SC I can say my modding career taught me something relatively useful.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Mar 24 2008, 10:10 am by Deathman101.

The amount of time it takes to find and install a dev environment for ANY language is piddling to the amount of time saved from tedious triggers. I tend to prefer perl when triggering.

Will add to first post.

Application of Javascript (and in fuller understanding -- coding in general) to Effects Using Mathematics:

What I am going to create in this section is a circle of explosions that you can use as an attack or death animation for a unit. I usually use it for larger units' deaths and such.

I know Starcraft incorporates a large array of players -- from youngling to expert elder -- so, skip this section if you understand polar equations.

The equation for a circle using x and y's is Math.sqrt(x*x + y*y) = radius*radius. Writing that equation made me want to puke. Couldn't there be some easier way?

Of course there is -- its called a polar equation. the equation for a circle is simply: r = 1. For a spiral, it is r = Theta.

A Crash Course on Polor Equations:

Polar equations relate angles with radii. At the given angle, the radius will be a certian length. At the end of the radius, it will plot the point.

But how are those points found be people like you or me? By these set of equations:

x = radius * cos(theta)
y = radius * sin(theta)

(This is basic Algebra and Trig. And some Geometry I guess... O well.)

So, if we are going to use a polar equation in our javascript, we're going to need these two equations as functions:



Now, javascript uses radius, which differs from degrees.

Degrees * pi / 180 = Radians

We want our explosions to go full cicle so:



Here is our full code:
*Original Code by A_of_s_t. It is currently being used in Disunion and my mod for the Summer Modding Contest. Please give me some kudos if you use these tips in your mod.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Mar 25 2008, 1:07 am by A_of-s_t.

Huh. For some reason, I never thought of using a programming language to generate stuff. This'll make trigger-generation easier. PHP>Javascript, though.

For the first part: I'm going to create an Application to Triggering soon.
For the second part: I don't care about personal prefrences. I'm writing this for javascript so deal with it.

Cannot add to 1st post at the moment so:

PART 2 -- Applications of Javascript (and to a more reaching extent -- coding in general) for Unique Weaponry

The Miraculous Sine Missiles:

If you have ever viewed the graph of sin(x), you'll see a nice flowing curve. When someone posted that they wanted to see missiles fly to their target in non linear paths, I decided to try it -- and thanks to javascript, I succeeded.

Sin Missiles require two sets of equations and -- even worse, two weapons, two flingies, two sprites, and two images.

One missile will be used for horizontal fire, and one will be used for vertical:





Now, copy + paste the output of the first one into an image that is unsed and do the same with the second one.

Now, let's go to the Valkyrie and give it two weapons -- one air and one ground -- and have the weapons use "Flies to Target" and have it use a flingy that uses a sprite that uses the images that we editted.

Now, go to the Valkyrie's iscript and change its attack to this:



Compile everything and you get a Valkyrie that now fires sinMissiles!

What is curdirectcondjmp?:

While I'm at it, I shall diescribe how curdirectcondjmp works (thanks to Lord_Agamemnon).

curdirectcondjump detects which way the unit is facing and jumps to a block of code if it is facing the right direction.

The first number describes what angle it is at. A circle in SC is split into 256 units (not 360). So, to convert:

Degress * 256 / 360 = Starcraft Measure

Now the second number allows for error, giving a range clockwise and counter-clockwise of this Starcraft measure from the first number.

curdirectcondjmp 64 44 FireBlock2
90 Degrees with about 61 degrees left or right of error allotment. (29d to 151d)


Commplete generators and codes needed:
*Original Generators and Codes thanks to A_of_s_t -- who ownz at mathematics.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Mar 25 2008, 4:54 am by A_of-s_t.

No...
what the hell Syphon, did you suddenly find a hole to travel in space-time and returned to the windows 95 era when you actually had to install it?
I know I didn't have to "install" js on any of the computers I've had.

Uhh... I have to work on this one a bit. Its not quite done and I really didn't explain things very well.


Random Attack Sequences:

In order to have a unit use random attacks, we need to use the "randcondjmp" opcode in the attack sequence. The probibility in this opcode is based off of 255.

x /100 = % / 255

255 * x / 100 = %

I know that in the end we will have 20 different attack sequences, plus one critical hit sequence. I know I want the critical hit to happen less than the regular sequence, but will naturally happen because of the nature of SC code.

54 = %

So, we will have:

randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle0
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle1
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle2
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle3
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle4
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle5
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle6
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle7
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle8
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle9
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle10
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle11
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle12
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle13
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle14
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle15
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle16
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle17
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle18
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle19
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle20
randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle21


(Entry point to produce that was:

for(var BLARG = 0; BLARG < 22; BLARG ++) {
outputStream.WriteLine("randcondjmp 54 AttackStyle" + BLARG);
})

Now, our weapons will need to be modified for this version of random weaponry to work:

Go to datedit and go to a unit that you would like to change.

Make its ground weapon use any weapon that uses Gemini Missile graphics and goes to Max Range. Add some splash damage and make its Max Range about 8.

Do the same to the Air weapon, except make its Max Range about 2-4.

Now make Weapon 123 any weapon that will use an explosion when it hits its target.

Now, we create the code for the random weapons:



We initiate a variable (attackNum) that will change which weapon we use (ground or air). We then initiate a variable that will output what degree our unit will attack.

It's something called a Web Browser, Corbo . Notepad doesn't execute Javascript.

Veeeeery touchy.

Corbo didnt say notepad could execute javascript. He said notepad can write code.

While messing with the randcondjmp, I realized that my method isn't very random... It favors the first random jump. I tried this:



Which outputs this:
randcondjmp 51 AttackStyle0
randcondjmp 61 AttackStyle1
randcondjmp 70 AttackStyle2
randcondjmp 80 AttackStyle3
randcondjmp 90 AttackStyle4
randcondjmp 100 AttackStyle5
randcondjmp 109 AttackStyle6
randcondjmp 119 AttackStyle7
randcondjmp 129 AttackStyle8
randcondjmp 139 AttackStyle9
randcondjmp 148 AttackStyle10
randcondjmp 158 AttackStyle11
randcondjmp 168 AttackStyle12
randcondjmp 177 AttackStyle13
randcondjmp 187 AttackStyle14
randcondjmp 197 AttackStyle15
randcondjmp 207 AttackStyle16
randcondjmp 216 AttackStyle17
randcondjmp 226 AttackStyle18
randcondjmp 236 AttackStyle19
randcondjmp 246 AttackStyle20
randcondjmp 255 AttackStyle21

And it works fairly better, but it now favors the random jumps at the end. I'm messing around with the random condition jumps so that every single randcondjmp has the same percentage of firing.

Here's why the first idea I had was wrong:

The first one has a 54/254 chance of firing. The second one has a 54/255 chance of firing IF the first one doesnt fire (201/256). So, the next one needs to have a HIGHER chance of firing so that it is still the same percentage as the first one.


ALSO:
I am going to rewrite the introduction so it actually makes sense...

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Apr 1 2008, 5:48 am by A_of-s_t.