In this multi-part series we'll build the Entity Component System used in Mach engine in the Zig programming language from first principles (asking what an ECS is and walking through what problems it solves) all the way to writing an implementation in a low-level programming language. The only thing you need to follow along is some programming experience and a desire to learn.

Today, I am announcing mach/glfw: Ziggified GLFW bindings with 100% API coverage, zero-fuss installation, cross compilation, and more.

In the coming months, we'll begin to have truly cross-platform low-level graphics, with the ability to cross compile GPU-accelerated applications written in Zig from any OS and deploy to desktop, mobile, and (in the future) web.

I write code 100 hours/week. I've done so for the last 2 years and, excluding a life-altering event (illness?) I probably won't stop.

A little story about how writing a domain-specific compression algorithm in a few days can sometimes yield big benefits, why it's sometimes worth giving it a shot, and how to tell when you should try. Note: this is about Unicode spec data files, not general purpose text compression.