if() statements.

Sometimes, you need to keep track of special information and act differently depending on what position the situation is in. After if() statements, a code string is placed within curled brackets. The code will only be executed in cases when the argument (the statement within the brackets) is correct. Let us look onto an example:

What the game engine will do when finding this part is to first look on the argument and check if it is true or not. In this case, it will try to find out if the value bound to "number" is equal to 3 or not. If it is true, the engine will execute the code placed within the curled brackets, in this case, doing nothing for 0.1 seconds (or rather 100 milliseconds). If "number" is not equal to three, nothing will happen.

Sometimes, you might need to check if the value is greater or smaller than needed by the use of ">" and "<" signs (that by an strange coincidence, together with the underline sign, make a sort of smiley that people use to look like after searching for a stupid error for hours ">_<"). The sign ">=" means "larger or equal to" and it's equivalent "<=" means "smaller or equal to". In follwing example, the code will only be executed if "number" is smaller than three.

At other times, the code is only needed to be executed only if a value is by no means equal to another. In those cases we put an exclamation sign in front. The code will only be executed if "number" is not equal to 3.

Another function that can be used is while( ). As you might hear the name, it executes a function while certain conditions are met. In this case, the script will run the command "sleep 100" over and over as long as "number" is equal to 3.

Congratulations, if you mastered this part, you can continue reading Lesson 2.