Getting started meant cloning the repository, bootstrapping a compiler and
learning a task runner called `x`. That is a contributor's workflow handed to
everyone who wants to try the language.
Installing is now one command:
curl -fsSL https://workshopsoft.pages.workshopsoft.io/ludic/install.sh | sh
install.sh puts a complete toolchain — compiler, CLI, engine runtime, bundled
ludic.* packages, formatter, language server — in ~/.ludic and adds it to PATH.
Prebuilt artifacts are checksum-verified; where a platform has none, or the
release predates this layout, it bootstraps from the compiler's own IR seed with
clang. The docs site publishes the script beside the pages that quote it, so the
page and the script can never come from different releases.
`x` becomes `ludic`, and the surface splits by audience. A user of the language
sees `new`, `run`, `build`, `test`, `add`, `fmt`, `lsp`, `doctor`, `upgrade`;
`ludic new` scaffolds a project that builds and plays as it stands. Everything
the toolchain repo needs moved under `ludic dev` — build, test, reseed,
bootstrap-cfree, docs-gen, release — unchanged apart from the namespace. Those
tasks read arguments one position further along, so dispatch_dev sets a shift
and commands use arg_n()/arg_total() rather than each knowing its own depth.
Release artifacts become complete install roots (bin/ beside runtime/, packages/
and VERSION) rather than bare binaries, which is what the installer unpacks.
`ludic dev test` asserts the whole shape: it stages an install, puts it on PATH
with no LUDIC_HOME, and runs new -> build -> test through it.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- every scratch file lives in `$TMPDIR/x_<pid>/` (tmp_dir/tmp_path in
prelude.ludic), removed by main's new dispatch() → tmp_cleanup();
X_KEEP_TMP=1 keeps it. `x test` and `x check-*` may now run together.
- `x test-lsp` (tools/x/lsp_test.ludic) replaces tools/test-lsp.py: the
whole request stream is framed into one stdin file, the server runs to
`exit`, and the response stream is parsed back by request id; adds a
check that ludicc's own error is published on save
- tools/x/forgejo.ludic replaces tools/ci/forgejo_release.py (curl with a
0600 header file; the token is no longer on the command line;
LUDIC_FORGEJO_API for forks)
- `x docs-palette --check` regenerates into scratch and compares, so the
drift guard judges the working tree rather than git HEAD; the generator
no longer emits a trailing blank line the formatter rejects
- `x test-tools`: exit 2 from test-lsp / test-grammar.js is a visible
skip, never a pass; the widget-prop test uses the `id: Root` syntax
- tools/test-grammar.js: current vocabulary (property/model/handler/
prefab/scene/event/become/@Queries), LUDIC_NODE_MODULES, exit 2 on skip
- tools/atlas.ludic rewritten in the current language (it did not compile)
- operators.ludic / os.ludic registered in the suite
- json.ludic: j_quote() writer helper
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Extend `enum` from named int constants to a tagged union: a variant may
carry a payload (`enum Tile { Empty, Wall, Door(int), Portal(int, int) }`).
Such enums box to a heap record (an i32 tag at offset 0, then one 8-byte
slot per payload position); an all-bare enum keeps its zero-cost compile-
time-ordinal representation, byte-for-byte unchanged (every golden render
and the bootstrap fixpoint still hold).
- Parser: variant payload declarations, stored as N_PARAM kids on the
variant node.
- Construction: by name — `Door(3)`, `Portal(x, y)`, bare `Empty` — resolved
ahead of the function-call fallback and boxed with the payloads coerced to
their declared types.
- match: destructures a tagged scrutinee, switching on the tag and binding
each arm's payload names in a scoped local frame.
- Checking pass: a tagged `match` must be exhaustive (cover every variant or
end in `_`), and constructor/pattern arities and binding forms are checked
— all reported where the scrutinee's type is known.
Adds selfhost/tests/enums.ludic to the regression suite and documents the
feature in LANGUAGE.md and the enum/match pages.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
A const reference lowered to `val(itoa(g.a.ival), "int")` in emit_call.ludic —
the initializer's raw integer bits, hardcoded as `int`. For a fixed const like
`const X: fixed = 10.0` that yielded the Q16.16 bits (655360) typed as int, so
every fixed comparison/arithmetic against it silently broke (it caused an
infinite loop in runtime/native/numeric.ludic, previously worked around with
inline literals).
Fix: a const reference now emits its initializer expression via emit_expr(g.a),
which carries the initializer's real type (E_FLOAT->fixed, E_BOOL->bool,
E_STR->string) and even handles computed initializers. Every existing const is
an int literal, for which this is byte-identical to the old immediate — the
C-free bootstrap fixpoint and all golden renders are unchanged.
- selfhost/tests/const.ludic + sh_case pin fixed/int/bool const behaviour.
- runtime/native/numeric.ludic restored to named fixed consts (HUGE_TEN etc.),
which the workaround had inlined; the numeric example (20 assertions) still
passes, validating the fix under runtime splice.
All suites green: x selfhost-test 31/31 (fixpoint holds, goldens byte-identical),
x test 85/85, x test-tools 30/30.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Phase 1 of the fuller type-system proposal: two by-value spatial types
that lower to packed integers (no heap, copy like scalars).
- IVec2 — integer 2D vector, a pair of int packed into one i64, for tile
and grid coordinates: make/zero/x/y/add/sub/scale/dot, the grid distance
manhattan, equal, and to_vector (widen into the fixed-point Vector).
- Rect — axis-aligned rectangle, four Q16.16 fixed components packed into
one i128, for HUD boxes and hitboxes: make/x/y/w/h, the derived
right/bottom/center, and the contains (point) / intersects (overlap) tests.
Both are exact and deterministic, bit-identical on every platform. Vector
and Color already cover phase 1's other 2D primitives.
Wired end to end: emit_core llty (IVec2->i64, Rect->i128), emit_call
dispatch, the FRAGS list + reseeded seed, a selfhost test (types2d),
per-symbol docs + type pages + inventory, and the vocabulary/editor sync
(header, JetBrains, TextMate, LSP).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Until now the only workflow was docs.yml — nothing gated a change on the
compiler even building, on `x test` / `x test-tools`, or on the headline C-free
self-rebuild reproducing the seed. Add two Forgejo Actions workflows on the same
`docker` runner the docs job uses.
The toolchain is macOS-first: the self-hosted compiler emits the Darwin libc
standard-stream globals (`__stdoutp`/`__stderrp`), the one thing that stops its
IR from linking on Linux. Everything else is portable — clang-16 assembles the
seed cleanly and the C-free bootstrap reproduces it byte-for-byte on Linux too.
So rather than require a macOS runner (none is registered), bridge that single
gap with a tiny **C-free LLVM-IR shim** (tools/ci/linux_stdio_shim.ll) that
defines the Darwin-named globals over glibc's stdout/stderr, injected into every
clang link via LUDIC_CC. The language keeps its no-C-compiler guarantee.
Workflows:
- ci.yml — bootstrap the toolchain from the seed, then `x test` + `x test-tools`
+ the docs-cover-the-implementation checks, on push to main and PRs.
- bootstrap.yml — `x bootstrap-cfree`: assert the seed rebuilds itself
byte-for-byte (returns non-zero on drift).
Make the suites host-aware so a Linux run is green without hiding anything: a
new is_darwin()/skip() pair (tools/x/prelude.ludic) makes the cases that are
genuinely macOS-ABI bound — the Cocoa-windowed `ludicc -o` link, the golden
render hashes (blessed on macOS; text raster differs by a hair elsewhere), the
Os known-folder/uname surface, Fs.list and the LSP workspace walk (both read the
BSD dirent layout) — print a visible `skip` off Darwin instead of failing. On
macOS every one of them still runs: suites stay 56 / 29 / 29 green there, and
run 51 / 28 (+skips) on Linux, bootstrap-cfree byte-identical on both.
The formatting gate is ludic-fmt *idempotence* (already in `x test-tools`), not
`fmt(x) == x`: this codebase deliberately preserves hand alignment, so a strict
"already formatted" check would fight that contract.
A prebuilt CI image with clang-16 + python3 baked in is the obvious follow-up
speed-up (ties into the packaging work in #33).
Closes#32
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Repository-cleanup / DX pass folding three tracker items into one coherent
change, verified green end to end (`bin/x test` 49/0, `bin/x selfhost-test`
29/0, `bin/x test-tools` 29/0).
#28 — curate & categorise examples/
- 42 flat entries regrouped into intent-revealing subdirs: games/, rendering/,
ecs/, events/, networking/, lang/, library/ (was lib/).
- chronorift dir-vs-file duplication resolved: the entry file and its import
modules now live together under games/chronorift(.ludic).
- Every path reference updated repo-wide (test runner, editor-tool drivers,
docs/site, design docs).
- New examples/README.md indexes the whole set with run commands.
- Showcase examples without a self-asserting entry (hello, events, net_rt) now
get a compile-only rot guard in `bin/x test`, so nothing here rots silently.
#30 — text-diffable golden baseline
- The 4 binary selfhost/golden/*.ppm blobs are replaced by a single
selfhost/golden/renders.sha256 manifest (SHA-256 per render). Hashes are
byte-identical to the old PPMs, so the baseline is unchanged — only its form.
- game_case now compares framebuffer hashes; a regression shows as a changed
hex line in review, not "binary files differ".
- New `bin/x golden` regenerates the manifest deliberately (review with
`git diff selfhost/golden/renders.sha256`).
#27 — PPM & asset handling
- Headless renders now write build/out.ppm, never the repo root; `x app`,
`x clean`, messaging and .gitignore updated to match. Nothing is written to
the working root any more.
- Redundant local Kenney .zip archives removed (the art ships extracted;
.gitignore already excludes *.zip). CC0 License.txt files retained.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The security-sensitive counterpart to the fast, non-cryptographic Hash.*
library: standard, test-vector-backed hashing for signed saves and message
integrity, kept in its own namespace so nobody reaches for the wrong tool.
Crypto.sha256(s) SHA-256 -> 64-char lowercase hex
Crypto.hmac_sha256(key, msg) HMAC-SHA256 -> 64-char hex
Crypto.verify_hmac(key, msg, mac) recompute + constant-time compare -> bool
Crypto.hex(s) lowercase hex of a string's bytes
Crypto.ct_equal(a, b) constant-time string equality
The primitives are implemented from scratch in plain integer LLVM IR
(FIPS 180-4 / RFC 2104): no libc crypto, no data-dependent branches in the
compression rounds, so a given input hashes to the same 32 bytes on every
platform and run. Digests are returned as hex strings, not raw bytes, because
a `str` is null-terminated and a raw digest can contain a NUL. MAC checks use
a non-short-circuiting compare so timing does not leak how much of a forged tag
was correct.
Emitted on demand via g_uses_cryptort, mirroring the emit_hash prelude gate.
Scoped to the deterministic, known-answer-testable core; OS-backed
random_bytes (the one piece that can't be validated by test vectors) is left
for a follow-up.
Tested against published SHA-256 vectors (empty/"abc"/fox + 55/56/64-byte
multi-block padding) and HMAC-SHA256 vectors; wired into the self-host suite as
`crypto`. Docs: a new Crypto section with honest "what this protects / does
not" guidance, one page per method, all fences checked and in the inventory.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Grow List sorting from a numeric-only insertion sort into a small,
game-friendly toolkit that sorts records and query results by a key or a
full comparator, stably and in O(n log n).
- List.sort_by(s, keyfn) ascending by a key (draw order, price)
- List.sort_desc_by(s, keyfn) descending (leaderboards)
- List.sort_with(s, cmpfn) full cmp(a,b)->int comparator (multi-field)
Comparators/keys are passed as named top-level functions rather than
lambdas, so the toolkit ships without waiting on closures (#1).
Engine: a stable bottom-up merge sort. emit_takeright is the single
place stability is decided ("take the right run's head only on a strict
win" -> equal keys keep prior order). List.sort becomes a hybrid:
insertion sort for n<32, merge sort above; both stable, so output is
unchanged. Key functions must return an integer-ish type; record slices
hold pointer elements, so the key/comparator receives the record pointer.
Tests: selfhost/tests/sort.ludic (scalar large-n, sort_by, sort_desc_by,
stability, sort_with). Docs: list-sort_by/desc_by/with + updated
list-sort. All suites green (28 self-host / 46 test / 29 test-tools);
reseeded, C-free bootstrap fixpoint holds.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Finish issue #9 by adding the two remaining acceptance items on top of the
calendar/clock core, still pure-integer and deterministic:
DateTime.format(dt, pattern) -> string render an instant via a token
pattern (YYYY/YY/MM/DD/HH/mm/ss;
other chars pass through)
DateTime.parse(text, pattern) -> int read an instant back; -1 on a
non-digit where one is expected
Clock.now/set/advance/reset a game-controlled simulated clock
(the @L_clock global) that never
touches the wall clock, so gameplay
reading Clock.now() is replay-safe
format/parse take a string-LITERAL pattern and are expanded at compile time
(field offsets are then constant), folding @fn_str_concat over literal runs and
two small runtime helpers: @fn_dt_pad0 (zero-padded field) and @fn_dt_rd
(fixed-width digit reader that stops at the terminator and flags malformed
input). Clock is a universal i32 global declared in emit_head, so it works in
entry and game programs alike.
Adds examples/offline_rewards.ludic — the issue's worked "you were away N hours"
example, driven from its own entry and asserted in the regression suite — plus
selfhost/tests/datetime2.ludic (format/parse round-trip, parse failure, clock),
docs (Clock section + 4 pages, DateTime.format/parse pages), inventory and LSP
hover. Reseeded; C-free fixpoint holds; all suites green (27 self-host / 46
regression / 29 tools); check.py (366 symbols), check-impl.py (218 ns-methods)
and validate.py OK.
With this, #9's scope is fully delivered: DateTime/Date/Duration + core ops,
format/parse, a deterministic simulated clock, docs + offline-rewards example,
and tests. (v1 stays UTC-only, no leap seconds, i32 epoch valid through 2038.)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Implement the calendar/clock half of #9 as plain-i32 integer epochs — no
new type, no floating point (the issue's "integer epochs to avoid drift") —
so every operation is deterministic and bit-identical on every platform:
Duration — a span in whole seconds; seconds/minutes/hours/days build one,
as_seconds/as_minutes/as_hours/as_days read it back. Because a
duration is just an int, `+` and `>` work with no extra machinery
(Duration.minutes(5) + Duration.seconds(30), away > Duration.hours(3)).
Date — a civil day as days-since-1970 (UTC): new/year/month/day/weekday/
is_leap/days_in_month/to_epoch/add_days/diff_days.
DateTime — an instant as seconds-since-1970 (UTC, matching Time.now):
from/date/add/year/month/day/weekday/hour/minute/second.
Time.since(past) = now - past, for offline-progress / "time away" checks.
New selfhost/emit_datetime.ludic (is_/emit_ for the three namespaces, wired
into emit_ns_call + the frag list). The two civil<->epoch conversions are
Howard Hinnant's public-domain proleptic-Gregorian algorithms, emitted once
per program as the @fn_days_from_civil / @fn_civil_from_days prelude and gated
by g_uses_datert; days_in_month is next-month-day-0 (no lookup table). Time
gains `since`. Docs (Duration/Date/DateTime sections, 28 method pages +
time-since), inventory, and LSP hover kept in sync; a registered test checks
component math against hand-computed values. Reseeded; C-free fixpoint holds;
all suites green (26 self-host / 45 regression / 29 tools); check.py,
check-impl.py and validate.py OK.
format/parse, a game-controlled simulated clock, and timezones are tracked
follow-ups; v1 is UTC-only and, on the i32 epoch, valid through 2038.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Implement the Vec.* half of #25 under the proper (de-abbreviated) name
Vector, unblocking it with a self-contained value type instead of waiting
on the full #1 type system.
A Vector is two Q16.16 fixed components (x, y) packed into one i64 — a true
by-value type that lives in a register and never allocates (reuses the new
`long`/i64 support; llty maps `Vector` to i64). Fifteen operations, all
deterministic fixed-point reusing fx_mul/fx_div/fx_lerp and the @fn_fx_*
prelude: make/zero/x/y, add/sub/scale/dot, length/distance/normalize/lerp,
rotate/angle/from_angle.
New selfhost/emit_vector.ludic (wired into emit_ns_call + the frag list),
the `Vector` primitive type in llty and the grammars/LSP/JetBrains tokens,
docs (type-vector + 15 Vector.* pages + section), and a registered test.
Reseeded; C-free fixpoint holds; all suites green (45/25/29); site + check.py OK.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Expand the abbreviated pointer types to full words on the language surface:
ptr -> pointer (a raw address / FFI handle)
ptrs -> pointers (a buffer of pointers)
The Ludic type name is distinct from LLVM's own `ptr` spelling: llty() maps
`pointer`/`pointers` to LLVM `ptr`, and the emitted IR keeps `ptr`, so only
the Ludic-level surface changes. Rewrites type annotations across all
sources, the 8 hardcoded pointer type-tags, the `pointers`-buffer indexing
in emit_addr, the grammars/LSP/JetBrains tokens, and the docs
(type-ptr -> type-pointer, type-ptrs -> type-pointers). int/bool keep their
conventional short spelling (like Math).
Reseeded; C-free fixpoint holds; all suites green (45/24/29); site + check.py OK.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Expand the function-declaration keyword to the full word across the whole
language and toolchain:
fn name(...) -> T { ... } -> function name(...) -> T { ... }
Done as a self-hosting migration: teach the parser both spellings, reseed,
rewrite every .ludic definition to `function`, then drop `fn`. The compiler
now rejects `fn`. Touches the parser, all selfhost/tools/runtime/example/test
sources, the grammars (TextMate shared+vscode, ludic_syntax.h, JetBrains
LudicTokens.kt), the LSP and formatter, the Python doc/vocab tools
(check-impl, check-docs, validate, palette, test-lsp), and the docs
(fences, prose, kw-fn -> kw-function).
Reseeded; C-free bootstrap fixpoint holds. All suites green (45 regression,
24 self-host, 29 tool); the docs site generates and check.py passes.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Finish the unblocked "Math / Ease" half of #25: the fixed-point
transcendentals deferred from #2. Vec.* stays blocked on the vec2 type
in #1.
- Math.exp, Math.log (natural), Math.pow — deterministic Q16.16 via two
new prelude fns in emit_math_prelude: @fn_fx_exp2 (range-reduced 5th-order
Taylor 2^f, then a clamped shift by the integer part) and @fn_fx_log2
(llvm.ctlz for the exponent + an atanh series on (m-1)/(m+1) for the
mantissa). exp=2^(x·log2 e), log=log2(x)·ln2, pow=2^(b·log2 a).
- Ease.elastic — ease-out elastic 2^(-10t)·sin((10t-0.75)·2pi/3)+1.
- Pure integer IR, so bit-identical on every platform. Results must fit the
Q16.16 range (|x| < 32768); larger magnitudes saturate (documented).
Test selfhost/tests/transcend.ludic (registered in the self-host suite) +
docs for all four. Reseeded; the C-free bootstrap fixpoint holds. All suites
green (24 self-host, 45 regression, 29 tool).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Implement the bulk of the namespaced-stdlib proposal (workshopsoft/ludic#2):
156 namespace methods across Math, Text, List, Ease, Collide, World, Net,
Sys, Save, Mem, extended Screen, Color functions, extended Random, and Time.
All deterministic fixed-point; self-hosting (C-free bootstrap fixpoint holds).
Compiler (selfhost/):
- Math.*: sqrt/sin/cos/tan/atan2/asin/acos (fixed-point runtime prelude —
bit-by-bit isqrt, 256-entry interpolated sine table, Ross atan2), plus
hypot/dist/dist2/deg_to_rad/rad_to_deg/posmod/wrap/ping_pong/snapped/
move_toward/smoothstep/lerp/remap/sign/floor/ceil/round.
- Text.* (complete): upper/lower/trim/repeat/pad, split/join/replace,
and the libc-backed queries.
- List.* (complete): insert/remove_at/remove/sort plus the earlier ops.
- Ease.* (in/out/in_out/back/bounce) and Collide.* (rects/point_rect/
circles/rect_circle).
- Phase 3: World/Net/Sys/Save namespaced over the bare builtins (byte-
identical IR) and Mem.* (bytes/words/copy/fill/peek/poke).
- Screen.* extended (line/circle/fill_circle/triangle/fill_triangle via new
runtime primitives; sprite/sprite_scaled aliases), Color.* functions,
Random.* (value/int/sign), Time.* (frame/delta/elapsed/now — new
game-loop frame counter).
- Fix a lexer bug: fixed-point literals with >4 fractional digits overflowed.
Docs & tooling:
- 129 new per-symbol doc pages; gen.py made data-driven (namespaces
discovered from the docs, no hardcoded list); new check-impl.py enforces
that every implemented namespace method / keyword / type / phase has a
doc page, wired into `x test-tools`. Document the previously-undocumented
keywords (break/continue/where/entry/new/public + and/or/not tokens).
- LSP: namespaced signature help (ns_method_sig) covering every namespace.
Tests: 12 new self-host/regression tests + a golden render for the drawing
primitives. All suites green (selfhost 21, regression 45, tools 29).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
