Core

Extensible Portable Programming Language

The future is not in the machine, but in the code. Well-designed and fast code. Java, HTML, XML, and others are paving that path. Core is just one of these languages designed to make the future available to the average computer junkie.

The Future...

Many more recent games out there: Half-Life, Quake, Dark Forces 2, and others have all created their own psudeo-language to allow gamers to create mods, modifications, to the game. There was only one slight problem: they were all different. Id created their own language, QuakeC, to handle the Quake engine which ran rather fast and was relatively stable. Others created versions that all seemed to emulate C in one respect or another, but they all had their own nuances that changed the language. There have been usable languages that were portable for general use as well, but due to their security needs, are bulky and slow. Java is one of these.

Don't get me wrong, I think Java is a wonderful language, and the first truly Object Orientated API is Sun's Java SDK. However, it is bulky and slow as a language where speed is essential and cycles cannot be wasted. This is where Core steps in.

Core is being designed to handle a variety of programming styles, and sometime in the future, a variety of language styles as well. It's development is currently being focused at the Assembly package within it which creates a one-for-one creation of compiled instructions.

The compiled code is very lightwieght and compact compared to other interpreted languages like Java or QuakeC. The current calcuated maximum size of an instruction is 15 bytes, but I haven't even been able to corerce an instruction to get beyond 9 bytes yet. QuakeC's average instruction size is 12 bytes, and Java's bytecode files are many and bulky. Calculated out, Core will produce around 170KB of bytecode per 25,000 instructions... give or take a few kilobytes.

Only one slight problem, Core isn't finished. The compiler's parsing system is far from complete and the instruction set is still in a state of flux. The run-time environment's design is frozen, and the instruction packing/unpacking code is finished, but there is still plenty to do and implement. The good news is that the compiler and environment that are being coded are written in 100 percent ANSI C++, which means that you can use the environment on any computer with any compiler that supports the standard C++ libraries.

Core Features

• True cross-platform compatibilty with any system or project, no extra work involved.
• Trap support. This means that the power-programmers that write the games can write functions in C, and call them in Core to gain a speed boost.
• Compiler will be free, and later versions will have a graphic IDE.
• Core Runner SDK will be available as a cheap programming tool (licensing costs/etc. will be dealt with once a running copy is available)
• Compiler will later on feature the ability to compile Pascal, BASIC, and other styles of programming languages as well as C and Assembly.
• Using the compiler, one can program modules for any program that supports Core, or write for CoreRunner, a run-time environment similar to the Java Environment.
• CoreRunner will be free.

FAQ

Feedback

Any questions, comments or ideas can be e-mailed to: Adam Thayer <krevinek@yahoo.com>