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QuakeC

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   Compiled language

   CAPTION: QuakeC

       Paradigm      imperative (procedural), structured
      Designed by    John Carmack
       Developer     id Software
    First appeared   1996
   Typing discipline static, strong
                  Major implementations
   Quake C Compiler, FastQCC, FTEQCC, QCCx, GMQCC
                      Influenced by
   C

   QuakeC is a compiled language developed in 1996 by John Carmack of id
   Software to program parts of the video game Quake. Using QuakeC, a
   programmer is able to customize Quake to great extents by adding
   weapons, changing game logic and physics, and programming complex
   scenarios. It can be used to control many aspects of the game itself,
   such as parts of the AI, triggers, or changes in the level. The Quake
   engine was the only game engine to use QuakeC. Following engines used
   DLL game modules for customization written in C, and C++ from id Tech 4
   on.
   [ ]

Contents

     * 1 Overview
     * 2 Limitations and subsequent solutions
     * 3 Modified compilers and language extensions
     * 4 Client Side QuakeC
     * 5 See also
     * 6 References
     * 7 External links

Overview[edit]

   The QuakeC source to the original id Software Quake game logic was
   published in 1996 and used as the basis for modifications like capture
   the flag and others.^[1] QuakeC source code is compiled using a tool
   called qcc into a bytecode kept in a file called
   progs.dat. The programmers of Quake modifications could then publish
   their
   progs.dat bytecode without revealing their source code. Most Quake mods
   were published this way.

   QuakeC allowed the Quake engine to dominate the direction of the
   first-person shooter genre.^[citation needed] Thanks to Carmack's idea
   of extending video game life by adding unlimited expandability
   (extensibility already played a big role in Doom), an enormous Internet
   community of gamers and programmers alike has arisen and many modern
   multiplayer games are extensible in some form.^[citation needed]

   QuakeC is known as interpreted because as Quake runs, it is continually
   interpreting the progs.dat file.^[2]

Limitations and subsequent solutions[edit]

   The syntax of QuakeC is based on that of the C programming language,
   explaining its name, but it does not support the implementation of new
   types, structures, arrays, or any kind of referencing other than the
   "entity" type (which is always a reference). QuakeC also suffers from
   the fact that many built-in functions (functions prototyped in the
   QuakeC code but actually defined within the game engine and written in
   C) return strings in a temporary string buffer, which can only hold one
   string at any given time. In other words, a construct such as

          SomeFunction (ftos (num1), ftos (num2));

   will fail because the second call to ftos (which converts a
   floating-point value to a string) overwrites the string returned by the
   first call before SomeFunction can do something with it. QuakeC does
   not contain any string handling functions or file handling functions,
   which were simply not needed by the original game.

   Most video games at the time had their game logic written in plain
   C/C++ and compiled into the executable, which is faster. However, this
   makes it harder for the community to create mods and it makes the
   process of porting the game to another platform (such as Linux) more
   costly.

   Despite its advantages, the choice of implementing game logic using a
   custom scripting language and interpreter was dropped from the next
   generation Quake II engine in favor of compiled C code due to the
   overall inflexibility of QuakeC, the increasingly complex game logic,
   the performance to be gained by packaging game logic into a native
   dynamic link library, and the advantage of leveraging an already
   established programming language's community, tools, educational
   materials, and documentation.^[3]

   Distributing native code created new security and portability concerns.
   QuakeC bytecode afforded little opportunity for mischief, while native
   code has access to the whole machine. QuakeC bytecode also worked on
   any machine that could run Quake. Compiling to native code added an
   additional barrier to entry for novice mod developers, because they
   were being asked to set up a more complicated programming environment.
   The eventual solution, implemented by the Quake III engine, was to
   combine the advantages of original QuakeC with the advantages of
   compiling C to native code. The lcc C compiler was extended to compile
   standard C into bytecode, which could be interpreted by a virtual
   machine in a manner similar to QuakeC. This addressed the security,
   portability, and tool chain problems, but lost the performance
   advantage of native code. That was solved by further compiling the
   bytecode into native code at run time on supported machines.^[4]

Modified compilers and language extensions[edit]

   A decompiler and a recompiler were released by Armin Rigo (called DEACC
   and REACC respectively). These programs were made through the process
   of reverse engineering, and were most likely published before the
   release of qcc.^[5]

   id Software released the source of qcc, their QuakeC compiler, along
   with the original QuakeC code in 1996. Modified versions soon sprung
   up, including Jonathan Roy's fastqcc and Ryan "FrikaC" Smith's FrikQCC.
   These added functionality, optimizations, and compiling speed boosts.

   In 1999, when id Software released the code from Quake's engine under
   the GNU General Public License (GPL), the workings of the bytecode
   interpreter were examined and new QuakeC compilers were released, such
   as J.P. Grossman's qccx and a new version of FrikQCC. These compilers
   took advantage of newly discovered features in a backwards-compatible
   way so that the bytecode could still be properly interpreted by
   unmodified Quake engines. New features include arrays, pointers,
   integers, for loops and string manipulation.

   With the Quake engine source code now able to be changed, further
   features were added to QuakeC in the form of new built-in functions.
   Features long yearned for by QuakeC coders finally reached realization
   as QuakeC now had file and string handling functions, enlarged string
   buffers, more math functions, and so on. However, programmers taking
   advantage of these changes lost backwards compatibility with the
   unmodified Quake engine.

   Xonotic since version 0.7 uses the gmqcc compiler.^[6]

Client Side QuakeC[edit]

   Some enhanced Quake engines (notably Darkplaces and
   FTEQW)^[clarification needed] have support for an extension of regular
   QuakeC (now commonly referred to as Server Side QuakeC) that allows
   client side only scripting of the Quake engine. This is especially
   useful for GUIs, HUDs^[clarification needed] and any visually heavy
   effects that do not need to be simulated on the server and transferred
   over the network.^[7]

See also[edit]

     * Computer programming

References[edit]

    1. ^ Lasse Lehtinen (1996-07-25). "QuakeC released". Quake and
       QuakeWorld history. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
    2. ^ Andrew Wu. "Quake C Basics". Retrieved 2013-04-06.
    3. ^ Carmack, John (13 March 1997). "Here is a technical issue to be
       discussed, Pg.18" (PDF). .plan. id Software. Retrieved 5 November
       2018.
    4. ^ Carmack, John (24 July 1999). "Jul 24, 1999, Pg.54" (PDF). .plan.
       id Software. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
    5. ^ "Interview with Armin Rigo - Feb. 12th 1997". April 30, 1997.
       Archived from the original on 1997-04-30.
    6. ^ "Xonotic 0.7 Release".
    7. ^ "Client-Side QuakeC". QuakeWiki. Retrieved 2016-11-16.

External links[edit]

     * id's github repository containing the C source code of qcc (QuakeC
       compiler)
     * id's github repository containing the QuakeC source code to
       QuakeWorld game logic
     * Unofficial QuakeC specifications
     * Large collection of QC mods, including their source
     * Inside3d - nice collection of QC tutorials here
     * InsideQC - New website to inherit Inside3D's legacy after it was
       shut down

     * v
     * t
     * e

   Quake series
   Games
     * Quake
     * II
     * III Arena
          + Live
     * 4
     * Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
     * Champions

   People
     * American McGee
     * Graeme Devine
     * John Carmack
     * John Romero
     * Jennell Jaquays
     * Sandy Petersen
     * Tim Willits
     * Timothee Besset
     * Trent Reznor

   Machinima

     * Blahbalicious
     * Diary of a Camper
     * Operation Bayshield
     * Quad God
     * Quake Done Quick
     * The Seal of Nehahra

   Mods

   Quake
     * Malice
     * Nexuiz
     * X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse
     * Xonotic
     * Rocket Arena

   Quake II
     * Action Quake 2

   Quake III
     * Challenge ProMode Arena
     * DeFRaG
     * OpenArena
     * Smokin' Guns
     * Tremulous
     * Urban Terror
     * World of Padman

   Professional players

     * av3k
     * Cypher
     * Fatal1ty
     * KillCreek
     * rapha
     * Sujoy
     * Thresh
     * Vo0

   Technology

   Engines
     * Quake engine
     * Quake II engine
     * id Tech 3
     * id Tech 4

   Other
     * Fast inverse square root
     * Quake Army Knife
     * QuakeC
     * QuakeWorld

   Related

     * BFG
     * QuakeCon
     * QuakeNet
     * Original soundtrack

     * Category:Quake (series)

   Retrieved from
   "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=QuakeC&oldid=1088762959"

   Categories:
     * Domain-specific programming languages
     * Video game development
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     * Id Tech

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