56,000 lines of DOOM, in a language I made up
A developer describes creating a custom programming language called 'bet' to run the game DOOM. The project served as an experiment in compiler design and testing the capabilities of AI coding agents.
Why it matters
It highlights the intersection of creative software engineering and the practical limitations of AI-assisted coding in complex, well-defined projects.
bet is a small, real programming language: slang keywords on the surface, a serious compiler underneath. It compiles to native code through LLVM, manages its own memory, self-hosts, and runs DOOM. I built it as a contained experiment, and ran it to completion.
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