prosperon/docs/quickstart.md

title, type

title	type
Quickstart	docs

Quickstart

This quickstart walks through creating modules, programs, and running examples.

Your First Module

A module (.cm) returns a frozen value — an API, a config, data.

Create hello.cm:

return {
  greet: function(name) {
    return `Hello, ${name}!`
  }
}

Your First Program

A program (.ce) is an entry point. It runs top-to-bottom and can register handlers.

Create hello.ce:

var hello = use('hello')

log.console(hello.greet('Prosperon'))

$receiver(function(msg) {
  if (msg.type == 'ping') {
    send(msg, {type: 'pong'})
  }
})

$delay(_ => $stop(), 0.1)

Modules vs Programs

	Modules (.cm)	Programs (.ce)
Must return a value	Yes	No
Return value frozen	Yes	N/A
Can register handlers	No	Yes ($receiver)
Can spawn children	No	Yes ($start)
Cached after first load	Yes	N/A

Spawning Actors

Programs can spawn other programs as child actors:

$receiver(function(e) {
  if (e.type == 'greet') {
    log.console('Child greeted me')
  }
})

$start(function(info) {
  if (info.type == 'greet') {
    log.console('Spawned child actor')
  }
}, 'hello.ce')

$delay(_ => $stop(), 0.5)

Actor Primitives

Primitive	Purpose
$start(callback, path)	Spawn a child actor from a program
$receiver(callback)	Register a message handler
send(target, message)	Send a message to an actor
$delay(callback, seconds)	Schedule a one-shot callback
$clock(callback, interval)	Schedule a repeating callback
$stop()	Terminate the current actor

Module Resolution

use('path') looks for modules in this order:

1. The current module's directory for path.cm
2. The mounted roots (the program's directory is mounted) for path.cm
3. Embedded/native modules if no script file is found

Modules compile to bytecode (.o files) and are cached for fast reloading.

Example Games

Prosperon ships with example games:

• Pong — two-player paddle game
• Snake — growing snake on a grid
• Tetris — falling block puzzle
• Chess — full chess with move validation
• Bunnymark — sprite rendering benchmark

Next Steps

• Tutorial — Build a game step by step
• Entities — The world and entity model
• Rendering — How drawing works
• Input — Handling player input
• API Reference — Full module documentation