Similar script to Maxscript for general scripting

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I've been using Maxscript for several years now, and feel very comfortable with it.
I wanted to know from the Maxscript wizards here - what you think would be the best scripting language for me to jump into, to do regular general Windows utilities, that is most similar to Maxscripting, or that would be the easiest after knowing Maxscripting. Or - that follows the same kind of methodology.

I've been using regular Windows' batch scripting for many years - but, of course, it's very limited.

Recently I've found that I needed to do some simple file manipulations, like batch-edit an XML file with math etc., and instead of breaking my head trying to do that in batch-script, I easily jumped into Maxscript and did the manipulation of the XML file through 3DSMax.

While that is all good and nice - I cannot distribute that script to just anyone, or move it to a computer that doesn't have 3DSMax installed. Moreover - it seems cumbersome to use a 3D application to do a simple utility that does not require a 3D application.

I thought of picking up Java - because of its versatility and availability, but not sure how easy it would be for me to get into it since - at first look - it doesn't seem very similar to Maxscript.

Maxscript is just very simple for me to understand and work with. I am hopeful that one of the other scripting languages there (C, C++, C#, Visual C++, Visual Basic, Python, etc.) will be just as easy for me to use.

Any input on the matter will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Dani.

[blakestone]

AutoIT - very easy to learn with a great help file and friendly forum. A very powerful tool which allows you to compile to an Executable. Have been using it for 5+ years now... love it!

Website: http://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit/

[Steve_Curley]

Python. Is (or can be) used in many apps such as SoftImage, Maya and Composite.
http://www.python.org/

PHP. Used extensively on the 'net for creating web sites/pages. Quite similar (syntactically) to C/C++.
http://www.php.net

I don't know if either of the above can be compiled to a stand-alone executable (run on a system without Python/PHP installed).

C/C++ aren't scripting languages - they're "true" languages as are Pascal, COBOL, Fortran etc. Useful because (in case you hadn't noticed) most SDKs (including Max) require C++. Can, and in most cases have to be, compiled either to an executable or a DLL (to be called from a host application).

AutoIt. Resembles Basic. Useful because it can be compiled to a stand-alone executable.
http://www.autoitscript.com/site/

There are doubtless many, many others and they all have strengths and weaknesses. It really depends on what you actually want to DO with them (aside from learning how to use them). Horses for courses...

Blakestone beat me to it - 2 votes for AutoIt then 🙂

[Anonymous]

AWESOME!

Thanks for the fast replies. I'll give AutoIt a try then. Looks promising.

Thanks!

[Kreaction]

I also use AutoIt for many many automating stuff, windows deployments, automatic updates of everything on entire network, some custom internal tools. Very powerfull, can access windows wmi, dll functions etc, and easy to debug/test/compile into exe.

Python is another standard in our industry, but not so easy to develop/test/distribute.