coalton-raylib

games programming in Coalton

table of contents
  1. the problem
  2. one possible solution
  3. conclusion

the problem

i love programming in ML-family languages like Haskell & OCaml , but they typically aren't interactive like Common Lisp , which makes programming games more difficult .

this is because one must restart the entire program they're working on every time a new change is compiled[1] .

one possible solution

as an ML language built on top of Common Lisp , Coalton can provide a statically typed , functional ( with typeclasses ! ) , & highly interactive game programming environment .

coalton-raylib is an example project i've shared that uses the raylib graphics library .

i've written the draw loop in Common Lisp , & the data model & update functions in Coalton[2] . this means that data & functions can be selectively reevaluated while the game is running , all while benefiting from compile-time type errors if a mistake is made !

conclusion

this was just a small experiment , that i figured i'd share in case it's useful for anyone else . i'm not sure if i'll use this for a larger game eor not , given that Coalton hasn't reached 1.0 yet , but it's great to know that it's a possibility .

footnotes

  1. there are ways to smooth this over , but they can add a lot of complexity [back]
  2. that's just the method i found to be the most ergonomic , but i'm certain that others could find better ways of architecting a game with Coalton [back]

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