🎶Introduction to ByteSkript

A short introduction to ByteSkript, its uses, goals and applications.

Overview

ByteSkript is an experimental language based on Skript (with no pre-eminent DSL dependencies) compiled to JVM bytecode.

It is designed to create standalone applications, or to be deployed as a DSL for writing scripts for existing programs.

• Need help getting started?

• Want a tour of the basic language features?

• Looking to convert from original Skript?

• Creating a language library (addon)?

• Looking for the website?

Visit the GitHub here.

ByteSkript draws heavily from the original Skript language design, with some minor structural adaptations to strengthen the language grammar, to remove some unnecessary jargon and make the language more reliable. ByteSkript also increases interoperability with existing JVM languages.

ByteSkript is not affiliated with SkriptLang. ByteSkript is a completely new implementation of the general guide and style of the 'Skript' language, with its own language specification, goals and licence.

For clarity: SkriptLang's Skript implementation will be referred to as 'original' or 'minecraft' Skript.

Goals

1. Provide a more efficient, compiled alternative to original Skript. Code will be compiled to JVM bytecode, with efficiency approaching or exceeding bytecode produced by javac.

2. Provide a stricter, stronger interpretation of the Skript language. Structures and language elements follow stricter rules to prevent inconsistency.

3. Provide a version of Skript with no built-in domain dependencies. No third-party libraries should be required to run scripts.

4. Provide a version of Skript applicable to multiple domains. An extensible API should be provided to allow creation of syntax libraries.

Non-goals

1. Not a replacement of the original Skript. There will be no built-in minecraft functionality.

2. Provide no built-in domain-specific functionality. The built-in Skript language library will have no syntax for third-party libraries or domains. A minecraft server will not be required to run scripts.

3. No alteration to language fundamentals. The layout, look, readability and core language components should keep parity with original Skript. Some small changes will be made to improve readability and compile accuracy.

Skript is designed to be beginner-friendly. Ideally, a user with no experience should be able to read Skript code and understand its function. All instructions are written in basic English, avoiding niche programming terms and symbols wherever possible.

Using ByteSkript

ByteSkript provides a single executable Jar file with different goals.

Running it for the first time will create special folders in the run directory.

Name	Purpose
skript/	This is where you can write your script files, with the extension .bsk. All .bsk files in this directory and its subfolders will be compiled/loaded.
libraries/	This is where you can put third-party .jar syntax libraries that other people create. If you've created custom syntax, you can put the compiled .class files here as well.
resources/	This is where you can put non-script files that you need in your output jar. This is only used by the jar builder.
compiled/	If you are compiling your scripts to .class or .jar files, the output will go here. This folder is never emptied, so make sure to delete any old versions before re-compiling.

Load and Run

java -jar ByteSkript.jar run

java -jar ByteSkript.jar run path/to/script.bsk

This is the simplest goal, used for loading (and running) user-created script files.

Raw script files can be written and placed in the skript/ folder. All scripts will be loaded internally, but no classes or jar files will be written.

If a script path is specified after the run argument, only that script will be run.

The on [script] load event will be triggered for each script as an entry point.

The ByteSkript compilers, language specification and compile-time API are available in this resource, so advanced scripts may use dynamic loading to load extra skript code written at runtime!

Compile

java -jar ByteSkript.jar compile

This resource is used for generating compiled JVM .class files for each script in the skript/ folder. The classes produced by this are not directly executable, but may be useful for sharing and special loading.

The compiled scripts will not be loaded or run.

If you are creating your own syntax, you will need to compile the syntax-providing scripts with this, and move their .class files to the libraries/ folder.

Build Jar

java -jar ByteSkript.jar jar

java -jar ByteSkript.jar jar MyJarName

This goal builds an executable jar containing all of the user-created scripts, resources and the ByteSkript runtime (skript namespace and functions.)

You can specify the name of the output file after the jar argument - the .jar suffix will be appended automatically.

This output jar can be run with java -jar JarName.jar and is distributable - it does not need anything as a dependency.

When executing this jar, all scripts will be loaded and the on [script] load event will be triggered for each script as an entry point.

The ByteSkript standard compiler and compile-time API are not added to the output jar.

The dynamic function on-the-fly compiler is available in this jar, so dynamic function calls are available.

Language Libraries

Due to its fixed nature, the Skript language has always relied on third-party add-ons to add new syntax and functionality for specific areas.

ByteSkript achieves this through libraries, which can register compile-time and run-time functionality.

There are two provided syntax APIs, labelled v1 and v2. Both are available and easily accessible, but may be suited to different tasks.

Within the set of built-in functions in the skript namespace are some for accessing JVM resources which can be used to build more advanced functionality.

API v1

The v1 syntax API offers complete control of syntax, including writing bytecode instructions, look-aheads, additions, etc.

However, it also requires creating and individually registering (fairly complex) classes to add new syntax and language structures.

This is the most powerful syntax API, as it allows control of the result code at the VM-bytecode level for experienced users. It is recommended for adding entirely new language structures or features with excessively-variable layouts.

The implicit array creation syntax (a, b, ...) has to use the v1 API to create variable-size arrays.

API v2

The v2 syntax API is significantly easier to use, but offers much less control over syntax.

Syntax methods are given an annotation, and the class they belong to is registered to a library. This API is much more suitable for property syntax, where creating a class for each one would be excessive.

The v2 API is used internally by all of the I/O handler syntax. A lot of these are also forced to extract or bridge.

Libraries Used

• ObjectWeb ASM A bytecode-assembling library used internally by the Java JDK. Used for compiling complex syntax.

• Mirror An on-the-fly member access compiler, alternative to Java reflection. Used for compiling dynamic method handles at runtime.

• Foundation A class-building framework to simplify method creation. Used for compiling simple syntax.\

Credit

The original ByteSkript parser, compilers, API and runtime were all written by Moderocky.

Special thanks to TPGamesNL, BaeFell and blce for providing feedback about syntax.