Overview

niLang is a C++ library that abstracts a variety of operating system functionalities, encompassing window management, input handling for keyboards, mice, and gamepads, filesystem operations, threading, socket communication, HTTP requests, 2D & 3D rendering, user interfaces, and audio processing.

In addition, niLang incorporates an automated introspection system for C++ modules, interfaces, and enums, facilitating seamless interoperability with other programming languages. By default, niLang offers integration with niScript (a Squirrel scripting language derivative) and the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

Setup the environment

cd niLang
. hat

Build

Bootstrap

./_build_bootstrap.sh

Module and libraries

ham pass1 modlibs

A particular module

ham MODULENAME

Build in debug mode

ham BUILD=da MODULENAME

WebJS / Emscripten version

Build Test_niLang:

BUILD_TARGET=web-js . hat
ham pass1 && ham Test_niLang

Run Test_niLang:

# Serve the $WORK folder (niLang's parent folder)
cd "$WORK"
simple-http-server
# Open the test case
open http://localhost:8123/niLang/bin/web-js/Test_niLang_ra.html

Build & edit shaders

All shaders are precompiled in .cgo files which are binary dependencies of the libraries. Building shaders is an explicit build step because its really its own thing and most will not need to touch them. A lot of shaders can also take a long time to build.

On Windows the shader compiler is enabled by default. On Linux & macOS it is disabled by default because it needs Wine to run which is a fairly big dependency.

To enable the shader compiler set the envvar SHADER_COMPILE=1 before importing the toolset. For example:

cd niLang ; export SHADER_COMPILE=1 ; . hat

To build the shaders build the shader target:

ham shaders

You can add the shader target before other targets to build the shaders first:

hamx :niLang shaders Run_HelloUI_cpp

You can build single shaders while iterating:

# Build all the texture sampling shaders
ham niUI_shader_fixed_ps_base niUI_shader_fixed_ps_base_translucent Run_HelloUI_cpp

You can list the shader targets with:

ham-ls-targets | grep shader

Tips

Working on a UI testcase script

• Add a UI script in niUI/tsrc_ni/TESTNAME.niui
• Run the UI test with ham Run_Test_niUI_TESTNAME
• Press F9 while the test is running to reload the code

Or

• Add a UI script in scripts/forms/TESTNAME.niui
• Run the UI test with ham Run_Test_niUI_forms_TESTNAME
• Press F9 while the test is running to reload the code

License

niLang is distributed under the MIT License; the full license text can be found in LICENSE.md. This project incorporates code from other projects, some of which are licensed under different terms than MIT. Generally, these licenses are similar to the MIT License in terms of practical implications. For more information on third-party licenses, refer to the docs/thirdparty folder.