Setup Your Project

Before you can begin, you need a project to work with. The CLI-Tool of WASM-4 includes templates for several programming languages like AssemblyScript, C, Go and Rust. More languages are sure to come in the future.

The Terminal#

Work is often easier on a terminal. For this step, open your terminal/powershell and navigate to your projects folder.

For the sake of having the same base, I assume the projects-folder is here: ~/Projects/.
On Linux and macOS this is usually /home/[YOUR USERNAME]/Projects.
On Windows this is usually C:\Users\[YOUR USERNAME]\Projects\.

Below you'll find instructions for your language.

To compile AssemblyScript projects you will need npm installed.

w4 new --assemblyscript snakecd snake

First we'll setup AssemblyScript (this only needs to be done once):

npm install

Compile the .wasm cartridge:

npm run build

Run it in WASM-4 with:

w4 watch

To compile C/C++ projects you will need to download the WASI SDK and set the $WASI_SDK_PATH environment variable.

w4 new --c snakecd snake

Compile the .wasm cartridge:

make

Run it in WASM-4 with:

w4 watch

Work in Progress

The tutorial for D is currently a Work-in-Progress. Most of the language specific instructions are currently missing.

To compile D projects you will need to download the WASI SDK and set the $WASI_SDK_PATH environment variable.

w4 new --d snakecd snake

Compile the .wasm cartridge:

make

Run it in WASM-4 with:

w4 watch

Work in Progress

The tutorial for Nim is currently a Work-in-Progress. Most of the language specific instructions are currently missing.

To compile Nim projects you will need to download the WASI SDK and set the $WASI_SDK_PATH environment variable.

w4 new --nim snakecd snake

Compile the .wasm cartridge:

nimble rel

Run it in WASM-4 with:

w4 watch

Work in Progress

The tutorial for Odin is currently a Work-in-Progress. Most of the language specific instructions are currently missing.

To compile Odin projects you will need to download the WASI SDK and set the $WASI_SDK_PATH environment variable. You'll also need the latest version of Odin.

w4 new --nim snakecd snake

Compile the .wasm cartridge:

nimble rel

Run it in WASM-4 with:

w4 watch

Work in Progress

The tutorial for Porth is currently a Work-in-Progress. Most of the language specific instructions are currently missing.

To compile Porth projects you will need to download 4orth and add it to $PATH.

w4 new --porth snakecd snake

Compile the .wasm cartridge:

make

Run it in WASM-4 with:

w4 watch

Requirements#

To compile Rust projects you will need to install the rust toolchain using rustup then add wasm32-unknown-unknown target:

rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown

Binaryen

It is not required but is strongly recommended that you download binaryen executables for your OS:

mac: via brew or github.
linux: via distro package manager or github.
windows: github

Note: If you have previously used wasm-pack you should already have it installed.

We'll use wasm-opt to significantly shrink the cartridge size.

Create a new project

w4 new --rust snakecd snake

Compile the .wasm cartridge:

cargo build --release

Run it in WASM-4 with:

w4 watch

To compile WebAssembly Text projects you will need to download WABT and set the $WABT_PATH environment variable.

w4 new --wat snakecd snake

Compile the .wasm cartridge:

make

Run it in WASM-4 with:

w4 watch

Prevent Browser from opening

If you don't want the browser to open a new tab for you, you can prevent this by using the -n or --no-open option. You can also set an environment variable called W4_NO_OPEN.

Examples:

w4 watch --no-open

W4_NO_OPEN=1 w4 watch

Setting a default language

You can set a default language by setting the environment variable W4_LANG to one of the supported languages. It's possible to override it with the CLI parameter later on.

Current State#

For now, your game should look this:

Hello World

The color changes if you press Button 1 (X or Space).