Z3z3phyr·Apr 23, 2025
This reminds me of the excellent CEPL library (https://github.com/cbaggers/cepl). You can write live shader like programs with cepl with an OpenGL backend.
In Graphics livecoding in Common Lispcbaggers
cepl
Common Lisp2015–2025
cbaggers / cepl
cepl
Code Evaluate Play Loop
11Distinct people
15Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
893GitHub stars
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What it is
Code Evaluate Play Loop
GitHub
Where it is used
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What people are saying
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This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year15 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2015-01-24 15:04:52 UTC to 2025-04-23 18:47:34 UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
What Hacker News says
15 sourcesAlright, here's my little selection of projects.
If you don't see a project in your field it doesn't mean there is no software or library.
Are they as awesome as the Rust/Go projects? It depends.
Is it an exhaustive list? No.
For a list of companies using CL and more projects, old or current, see the other links.
## Music
- [OpusModus](http://opusmodus.com/) - a comprehensive computer-aided environment for the whole work of music composition. [Proprietary].
- [OM7](https://github.com/openmusic-project/om7) - a new implementation of the OpenMusic visual programming and computer-aided composition environment including a number of improvements on graphical interface, computational mode, and connection to external software libraries. [GPL3][2].
- [ScoreCloud](https://scorecloud.com/) - A web and mobile application to automatically create musi
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c notation from music performance or recordings. Built with LispWorks.
## DB tools
- [Pgloader](https://github.com/dimitri/pgloader/) - Migrate to PostgreSQL in a single command!. [PostgreSQL License]
- [Pgchart](https://github.com/dimitri/pgcharts) - A self-contained web application that takes as input an SQL query text and outputs its data as a chart. [No License Specified]
## Utils
- [Cepl](https://github.com/cbaggers/cepl) - Code Evaluate Play Loop. [2-clause BSD].
- [Regex-coach](http://weitz.de/regex-coach/) - a graphical application for Windows which can be used to experiment with (Perl-compatible) regular expressions interactively. Freeware.
## Text editors
- [Lem](https://github.com/cxxxr/lem) - Common Lisp editor/IDE with high expansibility. [MIT]. Works for many languages, has a LSP client.
## Math
- [Maxima](https://sourceforge.net/projects/maxima/files/) - Computer Algebra System written in Common Lisp. [GPL2].
- https://github.com/susam/mathb A math pastebin
## Graphics
- [Sketch](https://github.com/vydd/sketch) -A Common Lisp framework for the creation of electronic art, visual design, game prototyping, game making, computer graphics, exploration of human-computer interaction, and more.
## Productivity
- [Grammarly](https://www.grammarly.com/) - Grammar checking. [Proprietary].
- [Deftask](https://deftask.com/) - Painless task management for teams. [Partly Open Source].
- [Ichiran](https://github.com/tshatrov/ichiran) - Linguistic tools for texts in Japanese language. [MIT].
- [Ballish](https://gitlab.com/ralt/ballish - a pretty fast code search tool.
### Window Manager
- [Stumpwm](https://github.com/stumpwm/stumpwm) - The Stump Window Manager.
## Mobile Applications
- [ScoreCloud Express](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scorecloud-express/id566535238) - An iPhone and iPad application that automatically creates music notation from music performance or recordings.
### Games
Just 2:
- Kandria https://kandria.com/
- [sucle](https://github.com/terminal625/sucle) - A Minecraft clone (voxel game engine). [MIT].
- [Notalone](https://github.com/borodust/notalone) - You wake up nowhere in the night. Hungry zombies around, but your ol' pal "BOOMSTICK" is with you. [GPL3]
My selection comes from https://github.com/azzamsa/awesome-cl-software
CEPL: A lispy and REPL-friendly Common Lisp library for working with OpenGL
109 points · Open discussionWhat about in (Common) Lisp? https://github.com/cbaggers/cepl
In Frickin' shaders with frickin' laser beamsCool! Take a look also at CEPL [0] an OpenGL environment for Common Lisp. Bit more low level, but you can have an OpenGL window open and make live changes in the code, just like anything else in Common Lisp. I can't imagine coding graphics any other way, and is a lot of fun that way too.
[0] https://github.com/cbaggers/cepl
In Fluxus – A 3D game engine for live-coding worlds into existenceCode Evaluate Play Loop (Common Lisp OpenGL Library and Environment)
2 points · Open discussionThat recent thread linked had lots of good stuff. For me it was the Practical Common Lisp [1] and Land of Lisp [2] books. I like starting with a book and articles, but then need a project to work on to really learn it and experience the language. I will now make some quick scripts with Lisp since it is so easy to write it as you figure it out in a REPL, and a big project has been a text-based game engine using CEPL [3].
For me the power was really just in trying it out, seeing the joy of using a REPL and that everything is code. The development process is just better and more fun.
[1] http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/
[2] http://landoflisp.com/
[3] https://github.com/cbaggers/cepl
In Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?Check out Hypergiant (Scheme -> GLSL)
http://wiki.call-cc.org/eggref/4/hypergiant
or
CEPL (common lisp -> GLSL)
https://github.com/cbaggers/cepl
In And now for something completely different: running Lisp on GPUs [pdf]>> CLI capabilities for live reloading/hotswapping
See CEPL, in Common Lisp, if Lisp is your thing.
I have done a from scratch but it was a prototype for a sports game with animations. For animations I chose quake md5 formats, for non animated objects like stadium used ply. Quickly implemented the two readers with c-ffi via Assimp in Lisp.
Next wrote my own scene renderer in Common Lisp (LispWorks) to be precise and the render loop was tied to vsync again using c-ffi. Given Lisp from ground up is a live editing language, you will get the live reloading out of the box.
I would definitely recommend to do it without any bells and whistles, if you are not resource starved to get this game out to make money (very few do, btw). So unless you are keen to learn game programming from ground up, go for it. Else stick to Unity, Unreal to ship somet
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hing out the door.
[1] https://github.com/cbaggers/cepl
I'm biased but I'd go Common Lisp
The basics:
- SBCL: generates fast[0] code. runs well on windows
- Quicklisp: The package manager which lets you install the packages mentioned below
I've got a video here that should help with getting set up on windows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnWVu8VVDbI&t=1s
Then you could try the SDL2 approach:
- cl-sdl2: Bindings over sdl2 https://github.com/lispgames/cl-sdl2
- cl-sdl2-mixer: audio playback https://github.com/lispgames/cl-sdl2-mixer
- Some basic math library like: 3d-matrices, rtg-math, sb-cga
Or maybe an existing engine:
- https://github.com/borodust/trivial-gamekit
Come down to #lispgames on freenode if you need a hand as there is usually someone there who has touched this stuff[1]
I'll also pimp my own stuff while I'm here just in case someone is looking for a lispy layer over gl
- https://
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github.com/cbaggers/cepl
Main downside of Common Lisp is that Emacs or Vim are pretty much a requirement to get a nice development environment, without which you are pretty much in 'writing Java in notepad' territory.
[0] for some definition of fast that I don't want to belabor this comment with.
My guess is the former based on https://github.com/cbaggers/cepl/blob/master/README.md
In Lisping on the GPU [video]Trying to. You will not find many game frameworks for Lisp, but all of the pieces are there.
I mainly use Lisps for livecoding. I am currently trying to learn Extempore for livecoding. It has two languages: xtlang, a Lisp language that is strongly typed and compiled for close to C speed via LLVM, and a scheme for doing more high-level scripting stuff in the Extempore environment [1]. There are binaries available for all platforms. I run it in Spacemacs on Windows 8.1. It's very snappy, and powerful, for coding music/sound at the signal or note level, and it has OpenGL and Nanovg for graphics. Watch Andrew Sorensen rock it on YouTube or Vimeo - just search for Extempore and/or Andrew Sorensen. I hope there will be a way to distribute things created with it someday. Then it would be a kick ass game dev platform.
I tried Racket and SBCL brie
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fly specifically for games. Both are very capable. I will probably go back to SBCL, since it worked well with SDL2, OpenGL and was fast on both my Windows and Linux boxes. CEPL is great for working with OpenGL in Lisp [2].
I would love to use PicoLisp. I almost did use it for a game jam, but you would need to create the game framework from the pieces it has, and again, the Posix / Windows issue. I'm really hoping for the Midipix solution. You can learn PicoLisp fast in a week or so by following along with the two great books - PicoLisp Examples, and PicoLisp Works. The PDFs are freely available on Scribd and the source code is available online [3][4].
Even Erlang is available as a Lisp - LFE, or Lisp Flavored Erlang, created by one of the original designers of Erlang, Robert Virding. Would be great for a game server with many connections. Elixir is becoming very popular but LFE has true macros, and why not, it's a Lisp! [5]
[1] http://extempore.moso.com.au/
[2] https://github.com/cbaggers/cepl
[3] https://github.com/tj64/picolisp-by-example
[4] https://github.com/tj64/picolisp-works
[5] http://lfe.io/
The CEPL [0] project could be of interest to you! Pretty great approach to OpenGL from CL.
[0] https://github.com/cbaggers/cepl
In Vulkan is HereCode, Eval, Play, Loop – Common Lisp OpenGL Environment
139 points · Open discussion