dcompute VS processing

Shameless plug: LDC (the LLVM based D compiler) can already target CUDA (and OpenCL) and wraps its API and all of the nasty details involved in replicating <<<>>> kernel launches with https://github.com/libmir/dcompute/ with a sane syntax that's type safe. LLVM handles the codegen, and all of the "magic" is done in the library.

As noted elsewhere it seems your experience is somewhat outdated: the releases of the LLVM D Compiler (one of the two compilers worth using for production builds, the other being GDC) are buffered to the bugs introduced in DMD (which is more stable than it used to be although there are still regressions), and there is a fork based GC available for linux, but as the GC will only ever trigger on allocation, don't use it and it won't collect.

> While C++ is not by any means a great meta-language, it's improved considerably since that time.

C++ has also painted itself into a corner multiple times too, which despite being technically an improvement over the status quo are lacking severely in their utility. C++ screwed up "constexpr if" big time by always introducing a scope (which costs you a pair of {}'s in the rare occasion you need one) which means you can't conditionally insert declarations (i.e. variables, structs/classes, functions).

> but beyond the novelty you'd hardly find a mature or reliable codebase written by a team of professionals using hacks like [string manipulation and mixins].

They are a wonderful hack when you need them and nothing else will do what you want. This is not unlike resorting to macros in C++, except that its hygienic, unlike macros.

I'm not claiming the project is mature and I'm only one person, but reliable definitely out there. The most heinous set of string mixins i've ever written[1] has definitely got to be the code for generating wrappers to call the OpenCL object property querying functions (clGetDeviceInfo & friends). You need to pass a size and a void pointer to the address of the return object that you have to call once, twice or more (depending on the type of the queried property) to figure out how much memory you need to allocate to call it again.

The important thing is that the interface[2] you use to drive this code generation is very clean and return on investment for getting the generic case correct is large.

[1]: https://github.com/libmir/dcompute/blob/master/source/dcompu...

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I disagree. There are so many creative tools that are now online that you can access from your browser that were not envisioned in the original web. It is obviously true that not EVERY website is about creation (but to expect that seems unreasonable?), but even Wikipedia is a collaborative project.

Examples include products from big vendors like Adobe's Photoshop, to smaller products like SketchUp, to more indy generative art tools like https://processing.org and Strudel (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39924210).

Would processing[0] be a good fit? It's designed to be easy to use and learn but powerful enough for professional use. Very quick to get cool stuff moving on a screen and the syntax is Java with a streamlined editing environment.

[0] https://processing.org/

I would personally use the language Processing. It's the one I use the most. And it's relatively easy to start drawing text, squares, and do other kinds of things. (It's kind of like java, but without all the boilerplate code)

Processing (P5) had this: you can select any string of text in its IDE anl search for it in the docs, and if it's one of the built-in functions or constants it will open the associated static html page that came installed with the software, so no internet nor server required. And despite being offline you can still navigate the docs too. This feels a lost basic skill in static site generation these days.

It was the only creative coding framework that had complete, offline documentation like that at the time I might add. OpenFrameworks is still mostly autogenerated stubs for example.

IMO it was one of the things that gave Processing an edge in educational contexts over all alternatives. I was pretty sad to see p5.js not fully continue that tradition and require that you go online to read the docs, and that it's not a static website but that text is rendered with javascript when you open it (still complete and with examples though).

https://processing.org/

https://p5js.org/

Processing is very cool, especially if you like graphics.

https://processing.org/

Processing is a flexible software sketchbook and a language for learning how to code. Since 2001, Processing has promoted software literacy within the visual arts and visual literacy within technology. There are tens of thousands of students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists who use Processing for learning and prototyping.

And it's not even their IDE. They just slapped some AVR compilers into Processing

https://processing.org/