new to Unity

Unity Engine
1

Hey all,
I am a VFX / Pipeline dude wanting to work with Unity in my “spare” time. Now my tools are:
Python
PyQT
Maya/3dsMax
FumeFX
Krakatoa
Realflow

I really like Unity and have been watching as many tutorials I can get my hands on. I am about to start scripting and I was wondering what you would recommend. Boo or Javascript…

2

if they are your choices, javascript.

Much better for finding examples of code and help.

I rarely see posts on using boo.

3

Well what is the learning curve for C# then? I just thought that having a lot of python experience that boo was similar and javascript has many examples like you say…

4

Personally I think that C# is a better choice because it is far easier to find help on the Internet if you need it, and to be honest, whilst some say that UnityScript (JavaScript) is easier to use, the syntax differences between the two are rather subtle.

A class in C#:

// Behaviour type class
using UnityEngine;

class MyBehaviour : MonoBehaviour {
    public string someString;

    void Update() {
    }
}

// An editor window
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEditor;

using Some.Other.Namespace;

[InitializeOnLoad]
class MyEditorWindow : EditorWindow {
    static MyEditorWindow() {
    }

    public string someString;

    void OnGUI() {
    }
}

The same in UnityScript:

// Behaviour type class / shorthand version
var someString : string;

function Update() {
}

// Behaviour type class / longhand version
class MyBehaviour extends MonoBehaviour {
    var someString : string;

    function Update() {
    }
}

// And editor window
import Some.Other.Namespace;

@InitializeOnLoad
class MyEditorWindow extends EditorWindow {
    static function MyEditorWindow() {
    }

    var someString : string;

    function OnGUI() {
    }
}

See, the differences are subtle and capability-wise they’re about the same (if not… the same)!

Note: I have shown the InitializeOnLoad attribute just for the sake of throwing an attribute into the syntax. It is not actually needed to define an editor window unless static initialization is needed :slight_smile:

5

I would go with C#, as it is more of a “industry standard” compared to unityscript and boo.

It shouldnt be that hard to learn C# since you already know python.

6

I don’t think there is anything wrong with unityscript/javascript.

If you look at a C# script you can usually convert it to javascript pretty easily.

I don’t have a strong opinion on which is better between C# and unityscript although there are problem situations one is better than the other. I just thought it was pretty clear cut over boo due to lack of examples.

7

I would go for unityscript/javascript or C# instead… You can find a lot of information in case you have doubts in your code. I guess that if you understand one of them you can understand both because they are similar. Well good luck then! :slight_smile:

8

C#: One of the most widely used programming languages, plenty of resources out there
UnityScript: Unity only. Saves you some typing in some cases.
Boo: Has macros and allows custom attributes, shortest code, easy to read. It’s my favourite, good luck finding tutorials though…