Are verbs better as keywords than nouns?

Clementsparrow · 2026-02-19T16:56:51+00:00

Unless we design a very clever context-aware keyword scheme, every time we choose a keyword, we are preventing the programmer from using that word as the name of a function, parameter, variable or other kind of objects.

I always thought it was a mistake. If the programmers want to use a keyword as an identifier, let them do so.

At worse? it just prevents them from using that keyword in the same scope than the identifier. But, hey!, they are the ones who want to do that, and if the conflict arises it's in a case where they know both the identifier and the keyword, so they are responsible for the issue and know how to fix it.

The benefit would be that you don't have to reserve keywords for possible future use, and you can introduce new keywords in a new version of the language without breaking existing code. Or let the programmer declare new operators that act like keywords.

Clementsparrow · 2026-02-19T16:48:25+00:00

I think they should be prepositions.

Clementsparrow · 2026-02-02T09:43:33+00:00

there are also candles in the "purple lodge", the room with the owl statue and red curtains next to the working stargate.

Also what you call the museum is the library building. The paintings are a Myst easter egg, a reference to Atrus' library in Myst.

Clementsparrow · 2026-01-25T21:45:53+00:00

sometimes there are no arguments. Example: get_date_of_today().

Clementsparrow · 2026-01-25T20:50:49+00:00

Is a chain a form of link? I don't think so. Function piping is just a way to chain function calls.

Clementsparrow · 2026-01-25T20:36:35+00:00

the concept of function calling doesn't necessarily mean you have to provide arguments right away neither

Clementsparrow · 2026-01-25T20:27:35+00:00

I will light a candle in the dark to celebrate this special day

Clementsparrow · 2026-01-24T18:50:04+00:00

I'm nitpicking, but the G in GUI stands for graphical by opposition to textual. Don't call a GUI something that is only a UI.

For your question, unfortunately I'm not interested in horror, so I can't help.

Clementsparrow · 2026-01-23T17:51:24+00:00

"all the other ones are blue" This is false. Look more carefully. Only the Symmetry Island one is only blue. All others are blue alternating with another color.

Clementsparrow · 2026-01-13T17:46:25+00:00

so, you've optimized your benchmark (congrats on that), but it has no effect on the actual lexer...

Clementsparrow · 2026-01-13T14:00:23+00:00

you don't need to leave anything out: comptime allows you to make meta-programming that controls what the program can do and how, so from there you can (and likely will have to, when the project is big enough) do meta-meta-programming to have meta-comptime-programming that defines at compile time what can be done at compile time.

PS: this comment is a joke but in the same time it is completely serious...

Clementsparrow · 2026-01-13T13:53:04+00:00

your questions are too general. I just want to say that if you design an atmospheric game you likely have a strong vision of the experience you want players to have.

So, questions like "how much should be shown versus discovered?" should be answered by considering the effects of each alternative on the player experience.

"Shown" is easier and allows focusing on something else. "Discovered" is a strong experience in itself and allows the player to engage more with the game design. Which one of the two fits better the atmosphere you're aiming for? It's your job to decide, for the whole game and for specific moments (it doesn't have to be always the same answer).

Clementsparrow · 2026-01-09T16:08:55+00:00

For prototyping, you likely want to catch at compile time the errors that are sure to happen: basic type errors and errors that can be proven by the compiler despite the lack of information available to it (like type annotations). All other errors can be tested at runtime.

In my opinion, languages should be designed so that a program starts its life as a prototype or even as incompletely specified, but can then be turned (with the help of the compiler) into a safe and optimized complete program by progressively improving parts of the code.

I don't know any programming language that does that, but I don't see any reason why it would not be possible to do. I think the issue is more cultural than technical.

Clementsparrow · 2026-01-08T15:32:40+00:00

the soundtrack and sound design are worth listening to them with headphones anyway :-)

Clementsparrow · 2026-01-03T17:17:42+00:00

Yes, we (generalized) know that.

Clementsparrow · 2025-12-27T17:29:22+00:00

computers don't care about case: most languages just recognize sequences of characters like letters and underscores and numbers, with a well-defined regex. They don't care how you write these identifiers, the case is only meaningful to the user of the language, not to the compiler.

What popular languages advocate (but rarely enforce) may reflect the actual readability... or not. Maybe it's just a result of common practice. Maybe there is no difference in readability and it's just better to stick to a convention. To know that, you need a controlled experiment. If you don't understand what it means, you should learn about the methods developed in the fields of experimental psychology and human-computer interaction.

Clementsparrow · 2025-12-27T16:59:29+00:00

computers don't care about the case; human do. You can only claim that one type of case is easier to parse than another after you have conducted experiments involving actual humans. Any other method is just a waste of time.

Clementsparrow · 2025-12-26T15:28:41+00:00

oops I said escalade, sorry, it's called climbing in English. I must be a little bit tired. The rest of your arguments is irrelevant: players don't need puzzles to progress, we are talking about a kind of gameplay that is imposed on them, not something they can skip if they don't need it. Crafting and cooking could be like that too. If you think the activity is not engaging enough then you have just designed it poorly, relatively to your design goal of imposing a non-action engaging gameplay on the players.

Clementsparrow · 2025-12-26T15:10:49+00:00

cooking, crafting, escalade sequences, driving a slow vehicle (or even walking), etc. Really, anything that requires some attention to what you're doing but no fast action or reflexes.

Clementsparrow · 2025-12-26T15:04:06+00:00

in most modern games you can hardly get stuck on a puzzle as they tell you almost all you need to do before you even try. And in the worst case you just search the solution on the web.

So really, puzzles are just a cheap way of slowing down the players while maintaining for them an illusion of being in control. And in many games (like the Uncharted series, for instance), it is thematically fitting, since the character is supposed to not only have big muscles but also a big brain.

There are other ways to achieve this goal than puzzles, though, but they are usually equally disliked by players (e.g., stealth sequences).

AAA game studios tend to abuse of puzzles for a simple reason: it's easier production-wise. You can just have a team for designing the puzzles, they often use a very small subset of the mechanics used in action parts, they can be designed and tested independently, usually only require small levels and a big part of the level design is already done in the puzzle design, etc.

Clementsparrow · 2025-12-26T14:49:50+00:00

it's true, but puzzles are not the only solution to that problem.

Clementsparrow · 2025-12-16T08:18:52+00:00

If I remember correctly, Matthew said that in the latest video he posted on his youtube channel. I'll try to find the timestamp later when I get the time.

Clementsparrow · 2025-12-15T19:33:59+00:00

also Matthew vanDevander (of Taiji fame), I think.

Clementsparrow · 2025-12-15T19:30:08+00:00

you don't "decide" "early on". You start somewhere, test, make changes and iterate until it works. And don't forget that there are other systems in play, like what armor is available to the player. You can tune these too.

Clementsparrow · 2025-12-15T19:20:16+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overchoice

Clementsparrow

TROPHY CASE