New professional programming language

c-up · 2013-07-01T23:50:15

Hi game developers, I've invented a new programming language based on over 20 years of experience writing games for a living and I'd like to invite you all to give it a try. The language is called C-UP, which is a play on the classic gaming terminology for lives/turns/power-ups: 1-up, 2-up, etc. It's a C style imperative language so it should look very familiar to most of you but I hope it introduces enough new concepts to make it worthwhile. I guess the headline features are safe automatic parallelism, full support for SIMD vector types, proper arrays with slicing, multi-methods and generics, but there's lots of other good stuff. Vector math is all SIMD based with intrinsic functions for things like dot, cross, min, max, sin, cos, etc. There are libraries for collections, matrices, quaternions, window management, OpenGL, OpenCL, input, file system and 3d rigid body dynamics. Audio and networking are at the top of my list of libraries to implement next although you are free to make your own. There's also a debugger written in C-UP itself. You can download it for free (Windows only) at: www.c-up.net. Sorry for the basic website implementation but all of my time is being devoted to the language itself. Unfortunately this means that there are no forums or anything yet but you can email me at the address given on the site and of course discuss here. I'll try to answer any questions you have but it is just me and I do have a full time job in the industry as well so please bear with me. Thanks in advance for any time you're able to spend looking at this project - I hope you like it, Si P.S. Here's a little C-UP program to give you a taste of the language. This example draws some 2d coloured squares in parallel using simd vector maths and 2d arrays with slicing. // entry point int Main(string[] args) { // allocate a 2d dynamic array of 4 byte simd vector type // (a comprehensive range of simd types is supported) byte4[,] image = new byte4[64, 64]; parallel { // fill the top-left quarter in red (array slicing with .. allows us to make a sub-array aliased over the master array) BlendRect(image[0..32, 0..32], byte4(255, 0, 0, 255)); // fill the top-right quarter in green BlendRect(image[0..32, 32..64], byte4(0, 255, 0, 255)); // fill the bottom-left quarter in blue BlendRect(image[32..64, 0..32], byte4(0, 0, 255, 255)); // fill the bottom-right quarter in yellow BlendRect(image[32..64, 32..64], byte4(255, 255, 0, 255)); // blend a 50% alpha white square over the middle BlendRect(image[16..48, 16..48], byte4(255, 255, 255, 128)); // The calls to the parallel BlendRect function don't execute until the parallel block { } exits // and then they execute in parallel with automatic dependency checking. // In this example the first 4 squares will be filled in parallel and the final one will not happen until // they are all complete because it overlaps them all } return 0; } // fill an alpha blended rectangle parallel void BlendRect(byte4[,] local rect, byte4 colour) { // expand source colour to 16 bits per channel short4 srcColour = colour; // foreach on a 2d array gives each row in turn as a 1d array foreach (byte4[] row; rect) { // foreach on a 1d array yields each element in turn foreach (byte4& pixel; row) { // expand destination colour to 16 bits per channel short4 dstColour = *pixel; // perform blend - vector component swizzling and write masking is supported like glsl pixel.rgb = cast(byte4)(dstColour + ((srcColour - dstColour) * srcColour.aaaa) >> 8); } } }

Engines and Middleware Programming

Started by c-up April 29, 2013 07:50 PM

24 comments, last by MrJoshL 10 years, 9 months ago

MrJoshL

810

June 27, 2013 10:18 PM

Windows only!?!? You are a traitor to humanity.

I am just kidding. A Linux version would be cool, but it is definitely logical to implement a game language on Windows, especially with all of that interfacing with CUDA (I assume), OpenGL, etc. A port would be madness.

C dominates the world of linear procedural computing, which won't advance. The future lies in MASSIVE parallelism.

Kryzon

4,684

June 27, 2013 11:14 PM

The 3rd one is my favourite - what font is it? However, I do also like the way the UP is superscripted in the first two, and they'll fit better on the website.

Which one do you prefer?

I'm glad you like them. I also prefer the third one, it looks more clever. The name is formed by uppercase letters of the Quicksand Book font, which is free. I had modified the dash so it's wider, but I've included the name as a separate file in the package below.

I had thought of a variation on the third one that gives it a square frame, so it should be good for icons as well:

Package: [attachment=16540:C-UP Orange Logo (R1).zip]

Regards, good week.

c-up

324

Author

June 29, 2013 11:44 AM

Windows only!?!? You are a traitor to humanity.

Well, I don't like humans much, so good

Are you saying you'd use it if I did a Linux version? That can be arranged.

MrJoshL

810

July 01, 2013 02:17 PM

Are you saying you'd use it if I did a Linux version? That can be arranged.

That would be absolutely amazing, but I'm pretty sure that would be a headache to port CUDA and also handle DirectX wrappers, if that is what you used. I would probably use it if it was for Windows, anyway.

C dominates the world of linear procedural computing, which won't advance. The future lies in MASSIVE parallelism.