Talk:Scripting Certification

Overlapping categories

There is a bit of overlap between the categories. Do we want to rework the categories or just go with it? -- Strife Onizuka 18:46, 24 April 2007 (PDT)

Difficulty

The way this is shaping up, it will be a difficult certification. -- Strife Onizuka 19:50, 24 April 2007 (PDT)

We need to specify the core skills the should be 75% of the test (ie. understanding events, if statements) the other 25% could be the lessed used functions/techniques (ie. using external scripting tools)--Destiny Niles 16:50, 25 April 2007 (PDT)

I'm uneasy about dumbing down the certification so the lowest common denominator of scripter can pass with no work. I really think the Certification should be used as a catalyst for scripting education. The test should be split up into 4 to 12 sections, you don't need to get all the questions in a section right (each section is specially tweaked for number wrong that is acceptable). My reasoning for this would be so that important sections could be stressed and less important sections could have a reduced impact. I'll expound upon my thoughts on how the scoring will work tomorrow (don't worry it takes your comment on weight into consideration). -- Strife Onizuka 17:40, 25 April 2007 (PDT)

I'll be sad to find that I won't be able to get scripting certification because there are great gaps in my core competencies. However . . . when it comes to a certification that is supposed to help me figure out who's qualified to work for my company, I don't want to see this test be something easy. I'd like this to be a test that makes it clear if someone is a programmer with a professional-level competency in lsl. So I'm thinking of it as a test comparable to one you'd give a programmer to test how well they can use some other programming language professionally. What would be included in a test of, say, C programming?

With this in mind, I would like to see something included about commenting code and writing documentation good enough for in-house use. Modelers (or whoever else is assesmbling the components of an object) should not have difficulty adding the scripts to objects (they need to know about required link order, what script goes in what prim, if certain prims need to have specific names, etc.), the tech writer needs to have a basis for the documentation for the client/end user, and it should be easy for other programmers to readily understand what the code is doing so they can modify it.

All that said, I do think there should be different specialized certifications; someone who does incredible particles may not have much skill scripting vehicles, etc.

Thanks for your patience, btw . . . I'm not really that much of a scripter and feel I'm in a little bit over my head here, but I wanted to get in a few comments from the perspective of someone who hires lsl programmers. :)

--Kim Anubis 10:12, 28 April 2007 (PDT)

Maintenance

It dawns on me that LibSL could be used to be the guinea pig and grader for tests. Having scripts being graded automatically would drastically reduce the cost of maintaining the certification program. -- Strife Onizuka 17:40, 25 April 2007 (PDT)

I'm not quite seeing this. Could you expand? --Ordinal Malaprop 15:41, 26 April 2007 (PDT)

Well the questions that aren't multiple choice would require the use to write scripts, those scripts would need to be graded. Easiest way of testing a script would be to plug it into SL, LibSL can fill that roll. -- Strife Onizuka 18:07, 26 April 2007 (PDT)

Units

I'm looking at the current list of sections (aka units) in the list presently, and wonder whether it is right that a certificate should be an 'all or nothing' approach like this. Speaking as someone with minimal interest in scripting vehicles - and I'm sure similar considerations apply to others - a structure of "Scripting" with subsudiary units of "avatar", "vehicle", "building-related", etc. might be a preferable route to take. --AlisonW 05:50, 26 April 2007 (PDT)

Yes, I was just thinking that, a lot of these functions are important for some people but pointless for others. Vehicle builders don't need to know how to make networked vendors and vice versa. There are general skills such as list manipulation and use of link message which are broadly relevant but most people specialise to a reasonable degree after that. Core skills need to be identified. --Ordinal Malaprop 05:58, 26 April 2007 (PDT)

This has been nagging at me as well. Maybe the certification should have optional subparts? Or maybe specialized areas should have specialized scripting certifications? I'm inclined to go with specialized certifications. But at the root of this, we have the question: What is the goal of certifying scripters? Are we marking people as Gurus or something else? Strife Onizuka 06:16, 26 April 2007 (PDT)

I had always assumed that the certification would be divided into different categories, and with different levels. The introduction on the article gives the impression that it is one certificate testing all aspects of scripting at the highest level. As Strife Onizuka mentioned, this would just identify gurus, and I'd be surprised if more than a handful of people could pass a test like that; plus it could take half a day to complete.

As people have hinted at, I would go along with a core LSL certification of the most fundamental skills (list manipulation, communication etc.), and smaller specialisations. The core exam would be completed first, and then as many or as few of the specialised ones as desired. I'd also propose 2 levels of complexity - intermediate and advanced. Certifying basic skills, especially if it costs to do so, is unnecessary.

--Lucius Nesterov 07:17, 26 April 2007 (PDT)

I've juggled the topics into certifications, I'm still not happy with it, some certifications don't feel right yet. I'm thinking of merging the Attachment certification into the other certifications (like Permissions and UI design). -- Strife Onizuka 14:33, 26 April 2007 (PDT)

Attachments are a tough one - there's a lot of calls and a few events that work differently in attachments, and then there's all the special cases around HUDs. --Storm Thunders 06:05, 27 April 2007 (PDT)

Good point, maybe there does need to be a cert for attachments. -- Strife Onizuka 06:48, 27 April 2007 (PDT)