I feel like the use of while wait() do loops are frowned, but how else can I loop from the server?? And how can I get other scripts to run while this loop continuously runs. It’s in a module script, and is being required from a separate script that contains more code below the require. So I want the module to require, and run, without causing other modules to yield forever.
local MoodService = require(script.MoodService)
print('Continue running')
local MoodService = {}
local ReplicatedStorage = game:GetService('ReplicatedStorage')
local ServerStorage = game:GetService('ServerStorage')
local Remotes = ReplicatedStorage:WaitForChild('Remotes')
local Events = Remotes:WaitForChild('Events')
local Mood = Events:WaitForChild('Mood')
local PlayerData = ServerStorage:WaitForChild('PlayerData')
local function changeMood(mood)
if mood < 5 then return end
mood = mood - 5
print(mood)
end
function MoodService:SetUp(player)
User = PlayerData[player.UserId]
if not User then return end
end
while wait(5) do
if User then
local RandomMood = math.random(#User.Moods, 1)
changeMood(RandomMood)
end
end
return MoodService
spawn(function()
while true do
if User then
RandomMood = math.random(1,#User.Moods)
changeMood(RandomMood)
end
wait(5)
end
end)
while wait() do loops are frowned upon because they are usually able to be replaced by RunService's events, as well as RunService:BindToRenderStep. This, however, is not the case because you are waiting longer than the minimum time.
You can use coroutines to create separate threads to run multiple parts of code at the same time, You can either use coroutines (which has more functions/events and far better in most situations) or the spawn function, Both can be found below.
Coroutines: coroutine | Documentation - Roblox Creator Hub
Spawn: Roblox Globals | Documentation - Roblox Creator Hub
for your case, You can do.
local coroutine = coroutine.wrap(function()
while true do
wait()
--and go along with your code
end
end)()
No it’s really not. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. That as well, just because something works, doesn’t mean it’s correct usage (see: hacking together features).
Relying on the fact that wait returns a truthy value and using it to implicitly pass the while condition is a code smell and bad practice. This is also not intuitive either. Wait doesn’t always wait the exact amount of seconds you specify and this code isn’t necessarily readable or maintainable.
This practice, as the document mentions, especially plagues Roblox developers because of it’s availability in the sandbox. Vanilla Lua doesn’t have this so it creates a knowledge discrepancy and you end up taking that bad practice wherever you go.
Other languages don’t necessarily have a sleep function, you have to write one - even in Vanilla Lua. Are you just going to expect that each language has a sleep function that you can use to pass a loop condition?
You’re right, but putting it as a condition or in a block of code really doesn’t change how unreliable wait() is, if you’re going to use it, use it how you like…
The only difference i see with wait being in the conditional vs in a block of code
u cant capture its return value
u always yield at beginning
As far as im concerned wait will and has never returned a nil value
A lot of other languages have sleep functions Java
import lang.thread
create thread object and run thread object ([thread object].start())
inside the thread you can call Thread.sleep(long mili)
Python (I don’t know this lang but did some quick research)
import time module
time.sleep(n)
I personally hate wait() and never use it in my code… but if someone were to use it in a while loop as a condition there would be no more harm caused than it being in the block of the while loop
As a condition, yes it does. It implicitly passes the condition. It’s bad practice, terrible use of the while condition and a code smell. It also leads to bad habits, non maintainability, less readability and in most cases, marginal inefficiency.
The purpose of a condition is an indication that the return values coming from the evaluation of the condition are important towards whether the thread should continue or terminate. In fact, thr whole point of the conditional statement is to determine if the loop should terminate or not.
-- Example from the document, not exact
-- Bad
while wait(1) do
if ((p1 - 02).magnitude <= 100 then
break
end
end
-- Good
while (p1 - p2).magnitude > 100 do
wait(1)
end
Unnecessary yielding at the beginning, or unnecessary yielding at all, is bad practice. Often at times, it also indicates a deeper problem in your code (i.e. improper organisation).
Not at all the point of what I said. Regardless of whether it does or not, using wait is an abuse of the while condition and bad code.
Yes there is.
Teaches bad habits
Marginal inefficiency
Introduces a code smell
Forces you to yield pointlessly at the start of an iteration over letting you choose a more appropriate place to yield
Implies that you have no terminating conditions (or otherwise a non-terminating loop)
Introduces code complexities (see above)
It’s bad code.
The thread I linked delves into the While-Wait-Do Idiom more (three pages worth discussing the idiom itself and why it’s bad).
Just because you didn’t have any problems doesn’t mean its a good tool. after starting to use spawn more you will notice the delay. the delay can also reach 15 seconds, witch is pretty bad, its obvious that coroutines are better. especially if you will need to use it a lot, coroutines are just a way to avoid the problems that you could have with spawn. coroutines are as easy ,so i don’t see why not using them.
So… When using spawn the function will be executed the next time roblox’s task scheduler runs an update cycle, This delay will take at least 29 milliseconds for every thread. But arbitrarily can take longer depending on the target framerate and various throttling conditions making this an unreliable function
As Malcom said, it is not possible to loop from a server script. If you want to run a loop every X seconds, you can use wait(seconds) like so: while true do
– do stuff
wait(5)
end
