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Jonathan Blow on scripting languages

Jeru Sanders1 HN recommenders · 2020–2022
185K views · commentary · evergreen · Uploaded 2019-06-02

A 10-minute clip from a Jonathan Blow Twitch stream in which he argues that game engines do not really need separate scripting languages. He questions the value of embedded interpreters when the main language can do the job.

Cited in threads about Lua, embedded scripting, and game engines as a concise argument that scripting languages are redundant.

Programming language designGame programming & engines

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4 comments from Hacker News

@pengaru2020 · in “Parsing S-expressions in C (2019)”

> I can guarantee you that a game will need a scripting language. Better get that done already. Is that really so certain? [VIDEO]

CitesView on HN
@veidelis2021 · in “Modern Javascript: Everything you missed over the last 10 years (2020)”

"Gaming engines are scriptable for a reason" - I'm sure I've heard the opposite opinion from respectable sources at least 2 times. Here's Jonathan Blow [VIDEO] I agree with the rest wholeheartedly.

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@pipeline_peak2022 · in “Lua, a Misunderstood Language (2021)”

Lua doesn’t really solve anything fundamental. It’s popular because it’s small and easy to embed. But embeddable interpreters, while fun pet projects, they’re redundant and trivial. Jonathan Blow has a great explanation of this [VIDEO] Write reusable libraries first, let people embed them into whatever scripting language/GUI app they want. Scripting languages, Linux distros, it’s all Pokémon cards.

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@pipeline_peak2022 · in “Scripting-language inspired by JavaScript and GLSL”

There’s nothing about this that screams “this language needs to be created”. Call me a pessimist, but I’ve seen So many toy languages on HN. My advice is, if you don’t have any original ideas and want users, your best bet is to implement a subset of JS, that’s the route I’m taking. Jonathan Blow has a great talk on the redundancy of scripting languages in game engines. [VIDEO]

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