hackertube.io

Ideas about a new programming language for games.

Jonathan Blow · talk · Watch on YouTube

Programming language designGame programming & enginesC, C++, Rust, Go & systems languages

What it is

Jonathan Blow's first talk on designing a new programming language for games, which became Jai. He explains the problems with C++ and why Go, Rust and D do not fit game development.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN programmers recommend it, and the Jai series that followed, for the game-industry view on replacing C++ and for watching a language being invented.

  • 7 people recommended it
  • 9 different months
  • 3 strong recommendations
  • first 2014, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “watching the videos has massively changed the way I think about programming.”

    Series on Jai that changes how one thinks about programming.

    erikpukinskis, 2015-09 · Strong recommendation · in “The Witness: the creator of Braid talks about his fiendishly difficult new game”

  2. “we should design a language that is both performant AND fun to program.”

    Argues for a language that is both performant and fun to program.

    greggman, 2015-03 · Recommendation · in “Steam store rendered in Servo”

  3. “Jonathon Blow has a great series [1] on YouTube where he's designing and implementing an alternative to C/C++”

    Series designing an alternative to C/C++ for game programmers.

    pearle, 2015-07 · Recommendation · in “Designing a Programming Language”

  4. “This is a nice talk from Jonathan Blow (Braid's author) about the necessity of a new language for game programming”

    Talk on why game programming needs a C++ alternative, and why Go/Rust do not fit.

    Kurtz79, 2016-01 · Recommendation · in “C or C++ for my game engine?”

  5. “has a lot of ideas about evolving C++ (or rather, building a new language to replace it) specifically in a game industry context”

    Game-industry perspective on replacing C++, distinct from Rust's memory-safety push.

    CamTin, 2017-11 · Recommendation · in “Towards a more powerful and simpler C++ with Herb Sutter”

  6. “You should consider watching at least the first part of that talk.”

    Blow discusses Go, D and Rust and why they fall short for games.

    topspin, 2018-07 · Recommendation · in “Jonathan Blow: “C++ is a weird mess””

  7. “I don't program games but it looks super interesting”

    Intro and philosophy of Blow's games programming language.

    skadamat, 2018-08 · Recommendation · in “Sadly, I must say goodbye to Leaf, my programming language”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: jonathan blow, jai, c++, game development, language design

Also recommended by the same people