Fractals, Forth, and free shaders
Hey 👋 — today's mix leans hard into the visual and the sonic: a fractal generator with a genuinely absurd number of patterns, a sequencer that speaks Forth, and a free course that ends with you coding a glowing heart out of pure math. Let's get into it.
Fractl.art – a fractal generator with 8 octillion different patterns
Fractl.art is a browser-based fractal generator that claims access to roughly 8 octillion distinct pattern variations — a number so large it stops meaning anything and just becomes a vibe (unverified beyond the landing page, but the combinatorics of fractal parameter spaces make it plausible enough). There's no algorithm write-up or source dive here, just a tool built for the oldest form of creative-coding procrastination: nudge a slider, watch infinity rearrange itself, repeat. Sometimes that's exactly the itch worth scratching (via HN discussion).
Free p5.js shader programming course announcement
Sticking with fractal energy: freeCodeCamp just dropped a free beginner shader course by Patt Vira, walking through WebGL, coordinate spaces, and shaping functions in p5.js, all building toward a glowing fractal heart rendered entirely in a shader. It's a solid on-ramp if GLSL has always felt like a locked room — the kind of course that trades mystery for muscle memory one uniform variable at a time.
In a different corner of creative coding entirely —
Cagire – Forth-based live coding sequencer
Cagire is a free, open-source live-coding step sequencer with a delightfully odd premise: each step doesn't hold note data, it holds a Forth script. Under the hood sits Doux, a built-in synthesis and effects engine, plus a second embedded DSL called Arf for shaping your own sounds from scratch. Forth's stack-based terseness has always felt weirdly musical, so pairing it with a sequencer grid feels less like a gimmick and more like someone finally noticed the resemblance (via Lobsters discussion).
Quick hits
- AI advice made people less accurate but more confident – study — the worst combo since diet soda and a large fries.
- Ecological patterns in Pokémon games reflect those observed in the natural world — someone ran real ecology math on fictional monsters and it checks out.
- Volumetric fire shader technique examples in Unity — for when a sprite sheet just won't do.
- I burned all my tokens researching how to save tokens — the irony writes itself, generously.
- Porting a Three.js game to Godot for better performance — a migration story with a happy frame rate ending.
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