From 0b268db6370656f5565d0dd9e632deaa77d228d9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: nek0 Date: Sun, 8 Dec 2019 15:07:04 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] new posts --- .../2019-10-17-Frustration-levels-rising.md | 40 +++++++++++++++++++ .../2019-12-08-And-we-are-at-a-full-circle.md | 37 +++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 77 insertions(+) create mode 100644 site/posts/2019-10-17-Frustration-levels-rising.md create mode 100644 site/posts/2019-12-08-And-we-are-at-a-full-circle.md diff --git a/site/posts/2019-10-17-Frustration-levels-rising.md b/site/posts/2019-10-17-Frustration-levels-rising.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3fa68b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/site/posts/2019-10-17-Frustration-levels-rising.md @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +--- +title: Frustration levels rising +author: nek0 +tags: english programming +description: Frustration with Haskell game development +--- + +The software projects I do in my spare time often revolve around game +development and usually the language of choice is Haskell. Doing things the +Haskell way demands some frustration tolerance and patience but the +outcome is usually a very robust piece of software. The outcome then usually +outweighs the frustration on the way there and makes programming quite an +enjoyable experience. + +Unfortunately this does not apply to game development in Haskell. At least for +me. After years of trying the closest I ever got to a game was +[Tracer](https://github.com/nek0/tracer), which I still wish to complete, but I +doubt I will ever be successful. This is due to the fact that in the current +state it performs badly because of poor technical choices on my side, which I +am trying to rectify. To make better informed decisions I set the game aside +and started experimenting with some new and some different concepts. This +includes concepts like Functional Reactive Programming (FRP) as a new paradigm, +but also better tooling, like proper shader programming. + +Finding resources on FRP was quite easy. I was given a good +[itroductory book](https://www.manning.com/books/functional-reactive-programming) +and found a capable Haskell library implementing this concept in +[reactive-banana](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/reactive-banana). + +Finding resources for shader programming in Haskell was not as successful. There +are some interesting attempts at abstracting the GLSL shader language into +Haskell, so one can profit from static type checking by the compiler, but these +haven't been updated for at least two years and don't work anymore. All in all +the whole GPU programming part of game development in Haskell looks very bleak. +To get things done one has to resort to interfacing C libraries oneself, which +is an error prone and tedious task. + +For now I am really frustrated by this lack of an ecosystem and by the fact, +that after three years of trying I only have rotting bits and pieces of +software. diff --git a/site/posts/2019-12-08-And-we-are-at-a-full-circle.md b/site/posts/2019-12-08-And-we-are-at-a-full-circle.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f1fb073 --- /dev/null +++ b/site/posts/2019-12-08-And-we-are-at-a-full-circle.md @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +--- +title: And we are at a full circle +author: nek0 +tags: +description: +--- + +Time to make a new update. Quite a few things happened lately: + +[As I posted earlier](/posts/2019-09-08-Back-to-Debian.html) I had switched back +to Debian. This did not last long. After visiting +[NixCon](https://2019.nixcon.org/) and learning about all the cool new stuff +coming to NixOS (and after breaking my Debian system) I decided to give NixOS +another shot and installed it all. I even got my graphics setup to work +properly thanks to the Optimus Prime setup options. + +Now I am learning how to handle +[haskell.nix](https://github.com/input-output-hk/haskell.nix), an alternative +builder for Haskell projects I learned about at NixCon. It works quite well, +despite still being marked as experimental. What I still struggle with, is the +setup of packages depending on other packages available only locally. Until I +can resolve this issue, some of my Haskell development is halted. If someone +has some resource at hand on how to achieve this other than the official docs, +I would be very grateful for a nudge in the right direction. + +Some other thing, which happened longer ago, but I failed to announce properly: +Eidolon, my image gallery is down and I am planning to change the scope and +rewrite the project. I took the gallery offline after new legislation passed +the european parliament known as "Article 13", whoch would have forced me to +either implement content filtering for copyright infringements at upload or buy +this service externally. The first seems impossible with my resorces and the +latter I am not willing to do. So the gallery will change to a single-user +gallery software. + +And this concludes today's update. I will be present at 36C3, so if you want to +get in touch, you may find me there. I will be most likely hanging around the +ChaosZone assembly or you can call me on DECT 6350.