> REPLs are not useful design tools (though, they are useful exploratory tools)
I disagree with this. I’m a Clojure dev, and most of the time, I use the REPL to iterate on features, fix bugs, and refactor, thanks to the fast feedback loop.
I used to be a Java dev—oh god, restarting the whole app after every change made me want to shoot myself in the head. Now, I use the REPL to build what I want and then move on. This brings joy back to programming.
I’m not saying other languages are bad, but working with Clojure is more enjoyable for me. I’m at least 2-3 times faster than I was with Java. Of course, there are techniques you need to know to write efficient and idiomatic functional code.
I could definitely see how if you work in Java or C# all day, repls feel like a neat curiosity. Picture telling someone who writes scheme in emacs that repls aren't a good design tool.
If you want to argue the point with non lisp people, I'd go to javascript or SQL as great examples where you really use repl's quite a bit.
Well, because Clojure actually has a "proper" REPL. Non-lispy languages don't have such REPLs, at best - they are interactive shells. The blogpost author doesn't seem to have experience with homoiconic languages, otherwise, I'm sure, that sentence would be different.
I'm a heavy REPL/interactive shell user so when I do Java I abuse the testing framework, basically I put my sketches in unit tests and run those. The feedback loop is pretty tight, close to what I get in some other languages, whatever happens behind the scenes in IntelliJ it's much shorter than a full recompile and boot.
Supposedly there are some Java shells around but I haven't tried them out.
Java has been able to hot swap code since the beginning? Well, maybe not the beginning. But very early versions.
The standard runtime didn't like some redefinition. But there were alternatives. Eclipse, for example, would purposely let you get otherwise broken code running so that you could breakpoint and replace as you went.
Apparently Graal lets you hotswap. I tried getting it working about a year ago, but couldn't figure out how to install it with Gradle toolchains, so gave up at that point. I should probably look at it again. Anybody using this?
Thanks for taking the leap by making a game with Clojure!
I’m a aspiring gamedev and my focus so far has been working bottom up with C and friends. But I do love Lisp and especially Clojure, I’m really hopeful now that Jank is gonna be a full time project this year.
> WebGPU and web games are said to be catching up to native-level performance, and some argue they’re already there.
I can’t agree with that, sorry. I’m developing 3D games for the web, and the limitations are asset size, memory size, and CPU/GPU constraints feel like developing games with 2001-era resources. The web isn’t there yet, and I’m not sure it will be anytime soon. There are some impressive apps leveraging the web’s fast distribution, but 3D games are harder in that regard. You can create content-rich, visually appealing 3D games, but then you severely limit your audience. I’m considering moving to native game development because the web’s limitations are daunting.
I also found myself feeling a bit dumb after using Copilot for some time. It felt like I didn’t have to know the API, and it just auto-completed for me. Then I realized I was starting to forget everything and disabled Copilot. Now, when I need something, I ask ChatGPT (like searching on Stack Overflow).
Same. I find myself having to pause and let Copilot finish. At some point, you lose/ not retain anything which you don’t use. I’m not sure I want to give that.
This is a very good read. I’m developing a multiplayer, third-person, spell-based shooter game using Lisp (ClojureScript). It’s a 3D web-based game. I’ll also be writing a blog post about my journey, including the tools and abstractions I created for the project. If you’re interested, here’s a demo link: https://wizardmasters.io
Unless I'm mistaken, I think fire_lake might be referring to a wholly unrelated first-person RPG spellcasting game project wherein the player would draw glyphs with their mouse in order to cast spells, and then there would be a surprise later in the game based on this mechanic (which was later repurposed for The Witness).
I am working on a multiplayer spell-based shooter game using BabylonJS and Clojure. It's a browser game; if anyone is interested, here is the demo link: https://wizardmasters.io
It's in the prototype phase, and I was heavily inspired by the game Spellbreak.
Kudos to you! I’m happy to see another Clojure developer like me using the language for game development, even though we sometimes make things harder for ourselves :) Currently, I’m developing a 3D multiplayer TPS shooter using Clojure. For anyone interested, here’s a demo link: https://prototype-game.pages.dev
I’ll also be posting a blog post about the journey soon!
It is one of my favourite things on the internet when a bunch of people can go to a virtual space and hop around and use an in game chat impromptu like this. Thanks for sharing.
Why are there so many new browsers these days? Is there really that much demand for them? Considering that creating one is very hard and requires a team.
The situation is pretty bad, where there are only two browsers: an ad-company controlled one that is making life harder for ad-blockers, and Firefox which is… fine, but somehow both stagnant and unfocused.
So, the opening is there, can’t blame people for trying to fill it.
OTOH this is just a Firefox fork advertised as a new browser.
Don’t forget Safari. Essentially there are three browser engines that all browsers are built on. The only engine that is truly new in the last 15 years is Servo. (And maybe Ladybird)
