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I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)

jonathanwhiting.com

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Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)

#11

Post by NuclearPM »

Keyframe wrote: post #2

In my core I'm the same. C is my language and served me well for decades. There's nothing inherently major wrong with it until you reach one of the two (or both). Working in a group of people on a C codebase tends to introduce pain on multiple levels unlike some other languages (yes, including C++). The other is that anything takes a long-ass time to do compared to modern alternatives, which might also be an issue if…

> Having said that, I can't disagree since as I said, I'm also inclined towards

Say more with less.

Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)

#13

Post by heliumtera »

Keyframe wrote: post #2

In my core I'm the same. C is my language and served me well for decades. There's nothing inherently major wrong with it until you reach one of the two (or both). Working in a group of people on a C codebase tends to introduce pain on multiple levels unlike some other languages (yes, including C++). The other is that anything takes a long-ass time to do compared to modern alternatives, which might also be an issue if…

>Working in a group of people on a C codebase tends to introduce pain on multiple levels unlike some other languages

linux attracted 2,134 developers in 2025

that kinda weakens your argument a little bit

Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)

#16

Post by dismalaf »

andreldm wrote: post #12

I was also really surprised with Haxe, I share the author’s concerns about its future, other than it’s quite fun to work with.

Haxe is a great language but it feels like the ecosystem has been stagnant for 10 years. No Vulkan bindings, no SDL3, still trying to be a web language that happens to compile to native code instead of getting with the times and going fully native + maybe wasm. Part of me wants to write my own bindings to SDL3 in Haxe but it's far easier to just use Odin these days.

Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)

#19

Post by jonahx »

heliumtera wrote: post #13
Keyframe wrote: post #2

In my core I'm the same. C is my language and served me well for decades. There's nothing inherently major wrong with it until you reach one of the two (or both). Working in a group of people on a C codebase tends to introduce pain on multiple levels unlike some other languages (yes, including C++). The other is that anything takes a long-ass time to do compared to modern alternatives, which might also be an issue if…

>Working in a group of people on a C codebase tends to introduce pain on multiple levels unlike some other languages linux attracted 2,134 developers in 2025 that kinda weakens your argument a little bit

Maybe (and I like C, for the record), but it doesn't follow necessarily. It's possible most of those devs were attracted by "working on linux," and are putting up with the pain of collaborative C. I know there's a movement pushing for more Rust.

Re: I write games in C (yes, C) (2016)

#20

Post by torlok »

I write mostly like I would in C, but use C++ features as needed. It ends up looking similar to Rust if you squint. All these "I write games in C" people complain about C++ features, and then end up reimplementing virtual interfaces manually with struct headers or massive switch statements, just to feel better about themselves. Writing games in C is not harder, you just have to implement modern language features by hand.

Complaining about a language having features you don't want is silly. C++ doesn't take longer to compile if you don't abuse templates.

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